NAPOLEON'S 
YOUNG NEIGHBOR 



HELEN LEAH REED 



NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 



UNIT. OF CALIF. LIBRARY. LOS ANGELE8 




NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA. Frontispiece 
From the painting by Delaroche 



NAPOLEON'S 
YOUNG NEIGHBOR 



BY 
HELEN LEAH REED 

AUTHOR OF "BRENDA; HER SCHOOL AND HER CLUB," " BRENDA'S 

COUSIN AT RADCLIFFE," "BRENDA'S WARD," 

" AMY IN ACADIA," ETC. 



ILLUSTRA TED 



BOSTON: 
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 

1907 



Copyright, 1907, 
BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY. 



All rights reserved 



Published October, 1907 



MUDGB & SON, INC., PRINTERS, 

BOSTON, MASS., U. S. A. 



TO 

DOROTHY E. B. 

WHOSE LOVE OF HISTORY BESPEAKS 

A WELCOME 
FOR THIS LITTLE VOLUME. 



2132276 



PREFACE 

THIS book, chronicling some little known 
passages in the last few years of Na- 
poleon, is based on the "Recollections of 
Napoleon at St. Helena," by Mrs. Abell 
(Elizabeth Balcombe), published in 1844 by 
John Murray. 

Her little book is written in an old-fashioned 
and quiet style, and the present writer, with- 
out altering any words of Napoleon's, has, so 
far as possible, given a vivid form to conver- 
sations and incidents related undramatically 
and has rearranged incidents that Mrs. Abell 
told without great attention to chronology. 
The writer has also added many pages of 
matter (with close reference to the best 
authorities) in order to make the whole story 
of Napoleon clear to those who are not 
familiar with it. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. GREAT NEWS 1 

II. A DISTINGUISHED TENANT 18 

III. FROM WATERLOO TO ST. HELENA 31 

IV. NAPOLEON AT THE BRIARS 45 

V. BETSY'S BALL-GOWN 64 

VI. A HORSE TAMER 77 

VII. OFF FOR LONGWOOD 95 

VIII. THE GOVERNOR'S RULES 116 

IX. ALL KINDS OF FUN 133 

X. THE SERIOUS SIDE 152 

XI. THE EMPEROR'S VISITORS . 170 

XII. THOUGHTLESS BETSY 186 

XIII. LONGWOOD DAYS 202 

XIV. THE PARTING . 227 

XV. THE PANORAMA 241 

XVI. THE LAST PICTURES . 253 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA ..... .Frontispiece 

PAGE 

JAMESTOWN ...*.. .*o. <> 16 



THE EMBARKATION ON BOARD THE BELLEROPHON . 34 

NAPOLEON 80 

THE BRIARS . 148 

LONGWOOD . 202 



NAPOLEON'S 
YOUNG NEIGHBOR 



CHAPTER I 

GREAT NEWS 

FAR south in the Atlantic there is an 
island that at first sight from the deck 
of a ship seems little more than a great 
rock. In shape it is oblong, with perpendicu- 
lar sides several hundred feet high. It is 
called St. Helena because the Portuguese, who 
discovered it in 1502, came upon it on the 
birthday of St. Helena, Constantine's mother. 
To describe it as the geographies might, we 
may say that it lies in latitude 15 55' South, 
and in longitude 5 46' West. It is about ten 
and a half miles long, six and three-quarters 
miles broad, and its circumference is about 
twenty-eight miles. The nearest land is Ascen- 
sion Island, about six hundred miles away, 



2 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

and St. Helena is eleven hundred miles from 
the Cape of Good Hope. 

From the sea St. Helena is gloomy and 
forbidding. Masses of volcanic rock, with 
sharp and jagged peaks, tower up above the 
coast, an iron girdle barring all access to the 
interior. A hundred years ago its sides were 
without foliage or verdure and its few points 
of landing bristled with cannon. Jamestown, 
the only town, named for the Duke of York, 
lies in a narrow valley, the bottom of a deep 
ravine. Precipices overhang it on every side ; 
the one on the left, rising directly from the 
sea, is known as Rupert's Hill, that on the 
right as Ladder Hill. A steep and narrow 
path cuts along the former, and a really good 
road winds zigzag along the other to the Gov- 
ernor's House. Opposite the town is James's 
Bay, the principal anchorage, where the largest 
ships are perfectly safe. 

The town really consists of a small street 
along the beach, called the Marina, which 
extends about three hundred yards to a spot 
where it branches off into two narrower roads, 
one of which is now called Napoleon Street. 
In 1815 there were about one hundred and 



GREAT NEWS 3 

sixty houses, chiefly of stone cemented with 
mud, for lime is scarce on the island. Among 
its larger buildings were a church, a botanical 
garden, a tavern, barracks, and, high on the 
left, the castle, the Governor's town residence. 

About a mile and a half from the town 
there stood in the early part of the past cen- 
tury a cottage built in the style of an Indian 
bungalow. It was placed rather low, with 
rooms mainly on one floor. A fine avenue of 
banyan trees led up to the house, and around 
it were tall evergreens and laces, pomegran- 
ates and myrtles, and other tropical trees. 
Better than these, however, in the eyes of the 
dwellers at The Briars were the great white- 
rose bushes, like the sweetbriar of old Eng- 
land. From these the house took its name, 
and thus the family in it seemed less far 
away from their old home. 

In a grove near the house were trees of 
every description, grapes of all kinds and 
citron, orange, shaddoc, guava, and mango 
trees in the greatest abundance. The surplus 
raised in the garden beyond what the family 
could use brought its owner several hundred 
pounds a year. The little cottage was shut 



4 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

in on one side by a hedge of aloes and prickly 
pear and on the other by high cliffs and 
precipices. From one of these cliffs, not far 
from the house, fell a waterfall, not only 
beautiful to the eye but on a hot day refresh- 
ing to the mind with its cool splash and tinkle. 

The owner of The Briars at this time was 
an Englishman named Balcombe, who was in 
the service of the government. Besides his 
servants his household consisted of his wife, 
his daughters Jane and Betsy, in their early 
teens, and two little boys much younger. 
They formed a happy, contented household, 
living a simple, quiet life, and though the 
parents were sometimes homesick, the chil- 
dren were very fond of their island abode. 

One evening in the middle of October, 1815, 
the Balcombe children were having a merry 
time with their parents, when a servant, enter- 
ing, announced the arrival of two visitors. 

"It is the captain of the Icarus," said Mr. 
Balcombe, turning to his wife, "and another 
naval officer." 

'The man-of-war that came in to-day?" 
asked one of the children. "We heard the 
alarm sound from Ladder Hill." 



GREAT NEWS 6 

"Yes, yes, my dear." Then, turning to a 
servant, "Show them in." 

As the gentlemen entered the room, it was 
plain that they had something of importance 
to communicate. 

"Sir," said the senior officer to Mr. Bal- 
combe, after the first greetings, "I come to 
tell you that the Icarus is sent ahead of the 
Northumberland to announce that the Nor- 
thumberland is but a few days' sail from St. 
Helena." 

'Yes," responded Mr. Balcombe politely, 
wondering why this announcement should be 
made so seriously. 

"Sir George Cockburn," continued the 
other, "commands the Northumberland, and 
in his care is Napoleon Bonaparte, whom 
he brings to St. Helena as a prisoner of 
state." 

Mr. Balcombe started to speak; his expres- 
sion was one of annoyance. He was not fond 
of practical jokes. His wife leaned back in 
her chair, gazing incredulously at the speaker. 
The children laughed. The officer's story was 
too absurd. Then one of the little boys began 
to cry. In their play the older children were 



6 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

in the habit of frightening the others with the 
name of Napoleon Bonaparte. It was alarm- 
ing to hear that the terrible Napoleon was to 
come to live on their peaceful island. 

Before Mr. Balcombe could express his 
surprise, the officer repeated : 

"Yes, Napoleon Bonaparte, the enemy of 
England." 

"But how can that be?" asked Mr. Bal- 
combe, hardly understanding. "Bonaparte 
was on Elba months ago; what has England 
to do with him now ? " 

"Surely began the captain; then re- 
calling himself, "but I forgot how far St. 
Helena is from the rest of the world. After 
Napoleon escaped from Elba in February, he 
gathered a great army. But the Allies, with 
our Iron Duke at the head, met him near 
Brussels, and there in June was fought the 
great battle of Waterloo. Thousands were 
killed, brave English as well as French. That 
battle marked the downfall of Napoleon, and 
soon he was England's prisoner." 

Mr. and Mrs. Balcombe, as well as their 
children, listened eagerly, absorbed in a story 
they now heard for the first time. 



GREAT NEWS 7 

"So they send him here?" It was Mr. 
Balcombe who first spoke. 

"Yes; no spot in Europe can hold him. 
Even on Elba he had begun to establish a 
kingdom. He reached beyond that little island, 
and now he has had his Waterloo." 

"It is clear, then," said Mr. Balcombe, 
"why they have sent him here. This is a 
natural fortress and it belongs to England." 

"Yes," said the officer; "England knows 
that here, in her keeping, Bonaparte will never 
again escape to torment the world." 

After a few more words of explanation on 
the one hand and of surprise on the other, the 
visitors withdrew. 

Of those who had listened to the officer 
young Elizabeth, or Betsy as she was com- 
monly called, was the most disturbed. She 
shivered and turned pale, and her mother, 
noticing her agitation, soon sent her to bed. 
There she silently wept herself to sleep and 
her dreams were filled with visions of that 
dreadful ogre, Bonaparte. It was not a very 
long time since she had really believed Napo- 
leon to be a huge monster, a kind of Polyphe- 
mus with one large, flaming eye in the middle 



8 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

of his forehead and with long teeth protrud- 
ing from his mouth, with which he devoured 
bad little girls. 

Although Betsy had outgrown this first idea 
of Napoleon, implanted in her young brain 
by careless servants, she was still afraid of the 
Conqueror. It is true that she realized he was 
not an ogre, but a human being; that is to 
say, the very worst human being that had 
ever lived. She knew this must be so, for she 
had heard sensible grown-up persons speak 
of him in this way, even her own father and 
mother. What wonder, then, that her dreams 
should be disturbed by thoughts of the misery 
that must come to St. Helena with such a 
man as Napoleon living on the island ? 

The next morning after the visit of the 
officer from the Icarus, the little girl rose 
early. She was far from cheerful as she looked 
about her on the lovely garden and grove. 
A wave of hot anger passed over her. Why 
should that terrible man be permitted to land 
and destroy all this beauty, as he would, of 
course, on the first opportunity ? 

From the garden she looked toward the 
rugged mountain, known as Peak's Hill, which 



GREAT NEWS 9 

shut off the valley from the south. Her father 
had spoken of the island as a natural fortress. 
Except for the mountains the Government 
would never have thought of sending the 
dreadful Napoleon to St. Helena. So she 
hated the mountains and cliffs. 

Perhaps, however, even at that moment 
when she dreaded the coming of the exiled 
Emperor, Betsy may have recalled her own 
first impressions of St. Helena and cast a half- 
pitying thought toward the great man who now 
saw in its rocky heights only his prison wall. 

One day Betsy's mother had reminded the 
young girl of the bitter tears she shed when 
she had first seen the island. 

'You were a silly girl to cry when you first 
came in sight of land," said her mother, 
recalling the circumstance. 

'Yes, but some had told me that the island 
was really the head of a great negro that was 
only waiting for the breakfast bell; then it 
would devour me first, and later the rest of 
the passengers and crew." 

"Well, I am glad you told me your fears." 

"So am I, for you showed me that these 
things could not be true." 



10 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

"Yet I remember," responded Betsy's 
mother, "that you would not take your head 
from my lap until eight bells had sounded. 
For some reason the nearness of breakfast 
made you believe that danger was over." 

"But you can't say that I made much fuss 
when I really was in the power of a negro," 
rejoined Betsy; "for I can well remember how 
strange it seemed when I was lifted in a 
basket, and told that a big negro was to carry 
me out to The Briars. At first I was a little 
frightened, for I had never seen a black man 
before, but he spoke so pleasantly when he 
put me down to rest, even though grinning 
from ear to ear, that I decided he would not 
harm me." 

"You saw at once that he was good 
natured." 

"Yes, and he asked me so kindly if I were 
comfortable in my little nest, that I trusted 
him. I was as proud as a peacock when he 
said he was honored in being allowed to carry 
me, because usually he had nothing but vege- 
tables in his basket. When we reached The 
Briars I told father I had had a delightful 
ride, and so he gave the negro a little present 



GREAT NEWS 11 

that made him grin more than ever, and he 
went off singing merrily at the top of his 
voice." 

Thus Betsy recalled her first impression of 
St. Helena. 

If Mr. Balcombe and the rest of the family 
at The Briars were surprised at the news of 
Napoleon's approach, people on the island in 
general were equally astonished. No commu- 
nication had reached Governor Wilks, no 
letter of instructions as to what should be 
done with the illustrious prisoner. 

The captain of the Icarus could only tell 
the residents of St. Helena that Napoleon was 
near and that the Second Battalion of the 
Fifty-third Regiment had embarked with the 
squadron. Even in those days, when there 
were no cables to flash the news of coming 
events, when there were no swift steamboats 
to act as heralds, it seems strange that in 
more than seven months no news of the es- 
cape from Elba had reached the little island. 

Now, when the people of St. Helena heard 
the news, they were greatly disturbed. They 
were afraid that the coming of Napoleon 
might cause changes in their government, and 



12 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

they were so fond of the Governor that they 
did not wish to lose him. 

Their fears were well grounded, for when 
Sir George Cockburn landed it was found 
that he had received an appointment that gave 
him the chief civil and military power on the 
island, while Governor Wilks took secondary 
rank. Later it was learned that on account 
of the distinction of the prisoner, a governor 
of higher rank than Colonel Wilks would be 
sent from England to supersede him, a gov- 
ernor who held his appointment directly from 
the Crown. 

Two or three days after the visit of the 
officer to The Briars, Betsy and her brothers 
and sister were in a state of great excitement. 

"Ah, I hope papa will not be killed," cried 
little Alexander. 

"How silly you are!" responded the older 
Jane. "Why should he be killed ?" 

"Because Napoleon is such a monster. If 
he should suddenly take out his sword - 

' Yes, or open his mouth and swallow papa, 
how terrible it would be!" added Betsy 
mockingly. 

"Of course Bonaparte is a monster, but he 



GREAT NEWS 18 

would never dare hurt any one on this island, 
especially an Englishman. Don't worry. Papa 
will come home safely enough, but I wish he 
would hurry, so we could hear all about the 
wretch." 

Later in the day the children gathered eagerly 
around their father, who had returned from 
his visit to the ships. 

"Oh, papa, what was he like?" asked each 
in turn. 

"Who, Napoleon?" 

"Of course. We wish to hear about him. 
Didn't you see him ? Didn't you see anybody 
there?" 

"I could hardly visit a fleet without seeing 
some one." 

"Is it a large fleet?" 

'Yes, it would be called large in any part 
of the world." 

"How large is it?" 

"Besides the Northumberland there are sev- 
eral other men-of-war, and the transports with 
the Fifty-third Regiment." 

"But did you see Napoleon?" asked one of 
the children, returning to the subject of great- 
est interest, 



14 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

"I did not see General Bonaparte," replied 
the father, pausing to see the effect of his 
words on the children. Then, as he noted 
their expression of disappointment, he quickly 
added: "But I saw some of the others, 
some of his suite." 

"Oh, tell us about it!" 

"There is little to tell. After paying my 
respects to Sir George Cockburn, I was intro- 
duced to Madame Bertrand and Madame 
Montholon, and then to the rest of Napoleon's 
suite." 

"What were they like?" asked one of the 
girls eagerly, as if she expected her father to 
describe a group of strange beings. 

"Like any travellers, my child, who had 
had a long voyage, from the effects of which 
they were anxious to rest." 

"Oh, I wish you had seen Napoleon!" 

"I am likely to see him soon, and you may, 
also, as he is to land to-night." 

At this news the children were silent. To 
have Napoleon on the island was not a pleas- 
ant prospect. They were not so sure now that 
they cared to see him. 

"But where will he live, papa, when he 



GREAT NEWS 15 

comes ashore?" ventured Jane at last. "Will 
they put him in a dungeon?" 

"Certainly not, my child. He is to live at 
Longwood, but as the house needs to be put 
in repair, he will stay for a while with Mr. 
Porteous." 

"When will he come ashore?" asked Betsy 
timidly. Now that her father had spoken so 
reassuringly of Napoleon, she was curious to 
see him, at least from a safe distance. 

"He will land to-night, after dark, I 
imagine, to escape the gaze of the crowd;" 
and their father, turning from the children, 
went toward the house. 

As he left them, the young people began an 
animated discussion of Napoleon. They were 
already getting used to the idea that he was 
to live on St. Helena and that he was an 
ordinary human being, not unlike the British 
officials of high rank sent out by the Crown. 

"As he cannot possibly hurt us, why 
shouldn't we go to the valley to see him 
land?" asked Betsy. 

"Why shouldn't we?" echoed Jane. So it 
happened, when they had asked their parents, 
that the older children were permitted to go 



16 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

to Jamestown to see Napoleon land. When 
they reached the wharf it was dusk and 
crowds of people were gathered on every side. 

"I did not know there were so many people 
on the island," whispered Betsy, as she pressed 
closer to her sister. "Do you suppose he will 
be in the first boat ? " 

"I don't know. But see, it is coming!" 

"Yes, little ladies," said a bystander, "Bo- 
naparte will surely be in the first boat." 

"Here it is, here it is," cried Betsy. "Look, 
Jane, look!" 

Even as she spoke, the passengers from the 
longboat were coming ashore, and although 
it was seven o'clock in the evening, there was 
still enough light to enable the watchers to 
see the figures of those who were landing. 

The girls strained their eyes. Three men 
marched slowly up from the ship's boat. 
"See," cried Betsy, "probably Napoleon is in 
the middle." 

"That little man, and in an overcoat!" 
'Yes, for there is something flashing, prob- 
ably a diamond." 

"A man with a diamond! How foolish!" 
objected Jane. 



GREAT NEWS 17 

"But it is, indeed it is!" 

"I wish people wouldn't crowd so." 

"They've got to move back. I'm glad of 
it. The sentries are standing with fixed bayo- 
nets to keep more people from rushing down 
from the town." 

If Napoleon had landed earlier in the day, 
he would have been greeted by an even greater 
crowd, for people had been gathering on the 
Marina from the earliest hours; but disap- 
pointed that he was not to land until after 
sunset, most of them had gone home. Still, 
however, a large enough crowd had gathered 
to make it necessary for the sentries to use 
some force to keep them in order. 

In spite of the crowd, the sisters felt that 
they had been rewarded for their trouble, for 
when they reached home they learned that 
the little man in the green coat was indeed the 
dreaded monster. 



CHAPTER II 

A DISTINGUISHED TENANT 

THE next morning Betsy rose early. The 
night before the family had sat up later 
than their custom, talking about the 
arrival of the ship and the distinguished 
prisoners. 

"Are General Bertrand and Count Mon- 
tholon prisoners too?" asked one of the 
girls. 

"No, my dear; I understand that they are 
at liberty to leave St. Helena whenever they 
wish. Of course while they are here they must 
obey whatever rules are made for them, but 
they would not be here if they had not chosen 
to share the fate of Napoleon." 

"That is very noble," said Jane, "to leave 
one's home for the sake of such a man as 
Napoleon;" and the conversation changed into 
a discussion of the reasons that had induced 
those Frenchmen to follow their leader. The 



A DISTINGUISHED TENANT 19 

next morning Betsy awoke feeling that some- 
thing unusual had happened. 

Her little brothers plied her and Jane with 
questions about the landing of the Frenchmen. 

"I wish we lived close to the town," com- 
plained Alexander, "that we might hear more 
about Napoleon." 

"Look, look!" cried Betsy, before the little 
fellow had finished speaking. "What is that 
on the side of the mountain ? " 

Following the direction of her finger, the 
other children broke into excited cries. "The 
French, it must be the French! There are 
horses with men on them. There, see the 
swords flash! They must be guarding a pris- 
oner." 

"Oh, I suppose it is a prisoner. But what 
is that white thing ? " 

"It is a plume; you can see that for your- 
self. Let us get a spyglass." 

For some time the children watched the 
little procession curving around the mountain- 
side, high above them. 

"It makes me think of a great serpent wind- 
ing along," said Betsy. 

"It doesn't look like a serpent, through the 



20 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

glass. There are five men on horseback. One 
of them has a cocked hat. It must be Na- 
poleon, though he wears no greatcoat." 

" They 're going to Longwood. That 's what 
it is. Papa says he's to live there. I won- 
der how he'll like it after all his palaces in 
Europe." 

"I'm glad he won't live near us. I should 
never dare leave the house, if he lived near." 

"Who 'she?" 

"Napoleon, of course." 

The morning passed. The children thought 
of little but Napoleon. They talked to each 
other of his victories and were proud that 
Englishmen had overthrown him. 

Early in the afternoon two gentlemen called, 
Dr. Warden of the Northumberland and Dr. 
O'Meara of the garrison. 

"Oh, have you seen him?" 

"Seen whom?" 

"Why, Napoleon; don't tease us, Na- 
poleon Bonaparte." 

"Well, then, since you are so curious, yes, 
we have seen him." Dr. Warden smiled, for 
he was surgeon of the ship that had brought 
Napoleon. 



A DISTINGUISHED TENANT 21 

"Oh, was he perfectly awful? Weren't you 
frightened ? " 

"If we were frightened, I tried not to show 
it. Napoleon seemed harmless. He did not 
even try to bayonet us," replied Dr. O'Meara. 

"But how did he look?" 

"He hadn't horns or hoofs; at least, we 
didn't see them, and on the whole he was 
charming, though he seemed tired. You girls 
will like him." 

"Oh, no!" cried Betsy. "I shake and 
shiver whenever I think of him. If ever I 
look at him it will be only at a distance, but 
I could never, never speak to him." 

"Mark my words, you will change your 
mind, Miss Betsy," cried one of the two as he 
turned away. 

About four o'clock that same afternoon, 
when it was approaching dusk in the little 
valley, one of the children reported that the 
same horsemen they had seen in the morning 
were again winding around the mountain. 

Soon the whole family gathered outside, 
and as they looked, to their great astonish- 
ment they observed the procession halt at the 
mountain pass above the house, and then, 



22 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

after a few minutes' pause, begin to descend 
the mountain toward the cottage. 

"Oh, mamma, do you suppose they are 
coming here? I must go and hide myself," 
cried the excitable Betsy. 

"No, my dear, you will do nothing of the 
kind. I am surprised that a great girl should 
be so foolish." 

"But Napoleon is coming, don't you under- 
stand, Napoleon. I could not bear to look at 
him." 

"You will look at him and speak to him, if 
he comes here. It will be a good chance for 
you to put your French to use." 

Poor Betsy! Up to this time she had been 
proud of the French acquired during a visit 
to England a few years before, which she had 
conscientiously kept up by conversation with 
a French servant. 

It seemed hard that she was now to be called 
on to do a disagreeable thing just because of 
this accomplishment. Of course she could not 
disobey her mother, and in spite of her fright 
she really had some curiosity to see the dis- 
tinguished guest. 

Not long after the party first came in sight, 



A DISTINGUISHED TENANT 23 

the French and their escort were at the gate 
of The Briars. As there was no carriage road 
to the house, all, except Napoleon, got off 
their horses. He rode over the grass, while his 
horse's feet cut into the turf. His horse was 
jet black, with arched neck, and as he pranced 
along he seemed to feel conscious of his own 
importance in carrying so distinguished a man 
as the Emperor. 

"He's handsome," whispered Jane to Betsy. 

"The horse?" 

"No, Napoleon; just look at those jewels 
and ribbons on his coat and I never saw 
so beautiful a saddlecloth. It is embroidered 
with gold." 

Before more could be said, Mr. and Mrs. 
Balcombe were moving forward to meet Sir 
George Cockburn and his distinguished com- 
panion. The sisters closely followed their par- 
ents, and after the older people had been 
presented to Napoleon the turn of the girls 
came. Bet^y, looking up, was impressed by 
the charm of Napoleon's smile. She saw that 
his hair was brown and silky fine; his eyes 
were a brilliant hazel. She also noticed one 
slight defect, that his even teeth were dark, 



24 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

the result, she afterwards learned, of his habit 
of using much licorice. 

The children at first were surprised to find 
Napoleon neither as tall nor as impressive as 
he had appeared on horseback. When they 
looked in his face they decided that he was 
very attractive, and when he spoke his smile 
and kindly manner at once won their hearts. 
From that moment Betsy forgot that she had 
ever considered him an ogre. To herself she 
called him the handsomest man she had ever 
seen. 

"This is a most beautiful situation," he 
said to Betsy's mother. "One could be almost 
happy here!" he added with a sigh. 

"Then perhaps you will honor us with a 
visit until Longwood is ready," interposed Mr. 
Balcombe. "I understand that you prefer this 
to the town, and I have already put some 
rooms at Sir George Cockburn's disposal." 

"I do prefer it." 

"Then the rooms are at your service." 

Strange language this to a prisoner, the 

children may have thought as they listened, 

-to give him a choice of abode. Later they 

learned why their father had put the matter 



A DISTINGUISHED TENANT 25 

in this way. They heard how wretched it made 
the Emperor to think of returning to the small 
house where he had lodged in the town and 
where people stared into the windows, as if 
he were some kind of wild animal. When he 
found that Longwood would not be ready for 
him for several weeks, he had at once declared 
his unwillingness to return to Jamestown. The 
glimpse of The Briars that he had had from a 
distance pleased him greatly, and he had 
asked if it might not be possible to lodge him 
there. Mr. Balcombe, as an official of the 
Government, having placed some rooms at 
the disposal of the Admiral, Sir George Cock- 
burn, was now anxious to put Napoleon at 
his ease about occupying them. 

The Balcombe children were greatly stirred 
up when they found that Napoleon was to be 
their neighbor, for the rooms to be assigned 
him were near, but not in, the main house. 
Their fear of the Emperor had almost wholly 
disappeared. 

Continuing to praise the view, Napoleon 
asked that some chairs be brought out on the 
lawn. 

"Come, Mademoiselle," he said to Betsy in 



86 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

French, "sit by me and talk. You speak 
French?" 

"Yes, sir," replied Betsy with apparent 
calmness, though her heart was beating vio- 
lently. 

"Who taught you?" 

"I learned in England, when I was at 
school." 

"That is well, and what else did you study ? 
Geography, I hope." 

"Yes, sir." 

"Then you can tell me what is the capital 
of France?" 

"Paris, monsieur." 

"Of Italy?" 

"Rome." 

"Of Russia?" 

"St. Petersburg." 

He looked up quickly. "St. Petersburg 
now; it was Moscow." 

Then he asked, sternly and abruptly, " Qui 
rabrule?" ["Who burned it ?"] 

Betsy trembled. There was something ter- 
rifying now in his expression, as well as in the 
tones of his voice. She could not find w r ords 
to reply as she recalled what she had heard 



A DISTINGUISHED TENANT 27 

about the burning of the great Russian city 
and the question as to whether the French or 
the Russians had set it on fire. 

"Qui 1'a brule?" repeated Napoleon. 

But there was a twinkle in his eye and a 
smile in his voice that encouraged Betsy to 
venture a stammering "I don't know, sir." 

"Om, oui" he responded, laughing heartily. 
" Vous savez ires bien. C'est moi qui l'a brule.'' 9 
["Yes, yes, you understand well. It is I who 
burned it."] 

Then Betsy ventured further: 

"I believe, sir, the Russians burned it to 
get rid of the French." 

Again Napoleon laughed and, instead of 
being angry, seemed pleased that the little 
girl knew something about the Russian cam- 
paign. 

Now while Napoleon was sitting in the gar- 
den or walking about the beautiful grounds, 
all was confusion and excitement within The 
Briars. Betsy's mother, like any other good 
English housewife, was naturally somewhat 
taken aback at having suddenly to make plans 
to entertain Napoleon and part of his suite. 
Even though the English Government might 



28 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

pay for his board, she must still regard him 
as her guest, and in the small time at her 
disposal do all that she could to make him 
comfortable. 

Rooms, therefore, must be rearranged and 
what furniture could be spared from the rest 
of the house must be put into Napoleon's 
apartments. So, in the short space of a few 
hours, the dreaded Emperor of the French, 
the ogre feared by the children, had become 
the neighbor, almost the inmate of a happy 
English household English, in spite of its 
distance, many thousands of miles away, from 
the islands of Great Britain. 

It was evening when Napoleon came back 
to the house with the family. Here again his 
conversation was chiefly with Betsy, as her 
fluent French pleased him. Her parents could 
use the language only with difficulty. 

"Do you like music?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"But I suppose that you are too young to 
play.' 

This rather piqued Betsy. 

"I can both sing and play." 

"Then sing to me." 



A DISTINGUISHED TENANT 29 

Thereupon Betsy, seating herself at the little 
harpsichord, sang in a sweet, full voice "Ye 
Banks and Braes." 

"That is the prettiest English air I have 
ever heard." 

"It is a Scotch air," said Betsy timidly. 

"I thought it too pretty to be English. 
Their music is vile, the worst in the world. 
Do you know any French songs ? Ah, I wish 
you could sing Vive Henri Quatre" 

"No, sir; I know no French songs." 

Upon this the Emperor began to hum the 
air, and in a fit of abstraction, rising from his 
chair, marched around the room, keeping time 
to the tune he was singing. 

"Now what do you think of that, Miss 
Betsy?" he asked abruptly. Betsy hesitated 
between her love of truth and her desire to 
please the Emperor. 

"I do not think I like it," she said at last, 
rather gently. "I cannot make out the air." 

She might also have added that the great 
Emperor's voice was far from musical. Neither 
then nor at other times when he tried to sing 
could she tell just what tune he thought he 
was rendering. 



80 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

When he discussed music she understood 
him better and she saw that he was a good 
critic. "French music," he said, "is almost 
as bad as English. Only Italians know how 
to produce an opera properly;" and he sighed 
heavily, remembering perhaps that his own 
opera days were over. 

Not long after Betsy had finished "Ye Banks 
and Braes," word was brought to Napoleon 
that his rooms were ready, and with a kindly 
word or two he bade good night to his young 
friend. 

The little girl's dreams that night were, we 
can well imagine, quite unlike any she had 
ever had before. But if she dreamed of the 
Emperor it is certain that she did not regard 
him as an ogre. His wonderful personality 
had gained her heart. Henceforth she was to 
be his loyal friend as well as his neighbor. 



CHAPTER III 

FROM WATERLOO TO ST. HELENA 

THE events that ended in the voyage of 
the fallen Emperor to St. Helena, if 
told in full, would make a long story. 
The battle of Waterloo, however, is a good 
starting place, the battle that decided the 
peace of Europe after its long years of war, 
when the Allied Powers, led by the Duke of 
Wellington, defeated the French, who had 
rallied around Napoleon for a last stand. 

Napoleon, when he saw that the day was 
lost for him and the French, fought desperately, 
hoping perhaps to meet death. But he seemed 
to have a charmed life, and, though he plunged 
into the thick of the fight, he was not even 
wounded. 

Some of his friends advised him to continue 
the struggle, but he saw that this might mean 
civil war for France as well as a long contest 
against the Allies. He cared too much for 



32 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

France to drag her into further wars. Some 
say that in giving up he could not help him- 
self, that what he did he had to do. Be 
that as it may, for a second time he signed 
the Act of Abdication, and after proclaiming 
his son Napoleon II, he left Paris. First 
he went to Malmaison, once the beautiful 
home of Josephine, where a few friends joined 
him. 

When the Allies were approaching Paris, 
Napoleon offered his services to the Provisional 
Government, promising to retire when the 
enemy was driven away. But the men now at 
the head of affairs at Paris were afraid to give 
authority of any kind to Napoleon, even for a 
limited time. He had broken one promise, he 
might break another, and they refused his 
offer. 

Napoleon now thought of America. Certain 
Americans in Paris had offered him help. 
One shipping merchant, a Massachusetts man, 
had an excellent plan, which, had Napoleon 
followed it, might have resulted in his reaching 
America safely. But Napoleon delayed, and 
although he did not know it at the time, when 
he left Malmaison for Rochefort on June 29 



FROM WATERLOO TO ST. HELENA 33 

he was too late. Up to the last he hoped to 
reach a vessel that would carry him safely to 
the United States. It is said that he gave up 
the plan proposed by the American shipping 
merchant because he would not desert his 
friends, and for the time there seemed to be 
no way of providing for them. 

It takes strength of mind for a man to 
decide to live out his destiny rather than run 
away from life. Napoleon now decided to 
make the best of things. With British ships 
practically blockading the coast, he saw that 
to try to escape was hopeless. He heard with 
dismay that Paris had surrendered to the 
Allies, and that the Provisional Government, 
that might have helped him, had dissolved. 
His last effort w r as to suggest sending a flag 
of truce by Generals Savary and Las Cases 
to Captain Maitland, commander of the 
British squadron, asking to be allowed to pass 
out of the harbor. He gave his word of honor 
that he would then go directly to America. 
Captain Maitland replied that even if he him- 
self could grant this request, Napoleon's vessel 
would be attacked as soon as it had left the 
harbor. Napoleon at last had to admit that 



84 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

the end had come when the report was brought 
him that Louis XVIII was again seated on the 
throne of France. He therefore again sent two 
officers to Captain Maitland, offering to sur- 
render on condition that no harm should come 
to his person or property. Another condition 
was that he should be allowed to live where 
he pleased in England as a private individual. 
The officer replied that he could not make 
terms, but that he would probably take Na- 
poleon and his suite to England as soon as he 
should receive. word from the Prince Regent. 
This answer was disappointing to Napoleon, 
but there was nothing now for him to do 
except to set out for the Bellerophon, Captain 
Maitland's ship, with the flag of truce. 

"I come to claim the protection of your 
prince and your laws," he said in French, as 
he advanced on the quarter-deck to meet 
Captain Maitland. 

Soon after this he wrote the following letter 
in French to the Prince Regent : 

ROYAL HIGHNESS: 

Exposed to the factions which divide my 
country and to the enmity of the great 



FROM WATERLOO TO ST. HELENA 35 

Powers of Europe, I have terminated my 
political career, and I come like Themis- 
tocles to throw myself on the hospitality 
of the British nation. I place myself 
under the safeguard of their laws and 
claim protection of your Royal Highness, 
the most powerful, the most constant, and 
the most generous of my enemies. 

NAPOLEON. 

It is not to be supposed that all this time 
Napoleon's friends were indifferent to his fate. 
Those who were near enough to communicate 
with him made various suggestions. 

At Rochefort his brother Joseph offered to 
disguise himself and change places with him, 
so that the Emperor might get away in the 
same vessel in which he himself was preparing 
to escape. Had Napoleon agreed to this plan, 
he would probably have been as successful 
as Joseph in reaching America. 

Some young and brave French officers are 
said to have offered themselves as the crew of 
a rowing boat to carry Napoleon safely 
through the blockading fleet. There would 
have been some risk in carrying out this pro- 



36 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

posal of stealing through the blockade, but it 
had a fair chance of success. 

There were also swift neutral vessels not far 
away, on more than one of which he had 
friends. But although, with three of his suite, 
he did embark on a Danish ship, on second 
thoughts he decided not to venture farther, and 
returned to shore. He might have accepted 
the suggestion of the captain of a French 
frigate then at the He d'Aix, who begged 
Napoleon to take the chance of intrusting 
himself to him. He would, he said, attack a 
British ship near by, and while the attention 
of other vessels was fixed on the encounter, a 
second French frigate with Napoleon on board 
would carry him far outside the harbor to 
safety. But this offer, too, was put aside. 
The admirers of Napoleon, who look back on 
his days of indecision at Rochefort, wonder at 
the change in the man, who by his policy of 
delay brought on himself his sad exile on the 
barren island. 

Yet it is easy to see that even though half 
willing to try flight, Napoleon really could not 
bring himself to the position of a fugitive, 
afraid to face his enemies. It was nobler to 



FROM WATERLOO TO ST. HELENA 37 

confront danger, as he had confronted it often 
on the battlefield. It was not strange that he 
should hope to find appreciation of his cour- 
age, even in the hearts of his enemies. 

It was the fifteenth of July when Napoleon 
embarked on the Bellerophon, and a week 
afterwards he w T as in Plymouth Harbor. Too 
late, to his great consternation, he found that 
the British regarded him as a prisoner. He 
was helpless; he had no weapons but words, 
for armed vessels surrounded him and the few 
friends who followed him counted for nothing 
against his foes. 

On the thirtieth of July, General Bonaparte 

the British refused him the title of Emperor 

was notified that the British Government 
had chosen St. Helena as his future residence, 
whither a limited number of his friends might 
accompany him. On receiving this word, Na- 
poleon's indignation was loudly expressed. 
He replied, that he was not the prisoner, but 
the guest of England, and that it was an out- 
rage against him to condemn him to exile into 
which he would not willingly go. It was at 
once evident, how r ever, that, willing or un- 
willing, he must embark for his distant prison. 



40 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

to settle down in England as he wished, as a 
country gentleman, would this have satisfied 
him? Even if he had made no attempt to 
recover the throne of France for himself, 
might he not have put forth efforts to have 
his son acknowledged Emperor ? At the time 
of his father's downfall, the little King of 
Rome was hardly more than a baby, but as 
years passed on he could never have lived 
contentedly with his grandfather, the Austrian 
Emperor, knowing that his father was as near 
as England. In the name of the young Na- 
poleon, Europe might again have been plunged 
into a great war. v 

Yet, without looking toward the future, 
Great Britain was only too sure that the time 
had come to punish one who had always been 
the avowed enemy of England. It is true that 
England had suffered less than any other of 
the Powers at the hands of Napoleon, because 
he had never invaded her territory, but in no 
country was Napoleon so hated. Thousands 
of Englishmen had shed their blood in the 
wars carried on against him by the Allies, and 
by the mass of the English people he was 
regarded as a monster. Although the so-called 



FROM WATERLOO TO ST. HELENA 41 

Napoleonic wars had their origin in causes 
that Napoleon could not have controlled, he 
was regarded as the one being responsible for 
the twenty years' upheaval in Europe. 

When it was announced that the British 
Cabinet had decided to send him into exile, 
many, perhaps the majority, thought the pun- 
ishment too light. They would have had him 
treated as a rebel and immediately hanged or 
beheaded. Yet while the mass of the English 
people hated Napoleon, Englishmen who had 
ever met him were apt to be his firm friends, 
or at least his admirers. 

Captain Maitland, of the Bellerophon, said 
that he had inquiries made of the crew as to their 
opinion of him, and this was the result: "They 
may abuse that man as much as they please, 
but if the people of England knew him as 
well as we do, they would not touch a hair of 
his head." 

Though Napoleon had surrendered to Great 
Britain alone, the Allied Powers, desiring 
Great Britain to be responsible for him, ap- 
proved her course. 

During the voyage of ten weeks toward St. 
Helena, Napoleon suffered little from sea- 



42 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

sickness after the first few days. He break- 
fasted in his own cabin at ten or eleven o'clock. 
Before he dined he generally played a game 
of chess, and remained at dinner, in compli- 
ment to the Admiral, about an hour. After he 
had his coffee he left the others to walk with 
Count Bertrand or Count Las Cases on the 
quarter-deck. He often spoke to those officers 
who could understand French. At first he 
showed little interest in the occupations of 
those about him, but in time he engaged in 
more general conversation and was especially 
inclined to talk to Mr. Warden, the Northum- 
berland surgeon, about the prevailing com- 
plaints on board the ship and his methods of 
treating the sick. After a while he turned to 
his own books and spent most of the day 
reading or in dictating to Las Cases. On the 
twenty-third of August the Northumberland 
crossed the equator. Before this the Admiral 
had amused himself trying to frighten the 
French, telling them of the rough ceremony 
practised by the sailors, who always undertook 
to present to Neptune all persons on board 
who had never before crossed the line. It hap- 
pened, however, that in this instance all made 



FROM WATERLOO TO ST. HELENA 43 

a special effort to be courteous. While the 
sailors presented to Neptune were shaved with 
huge razors and a lather of pitch, the French 
were introduced politely with compliments, 
and the Emperor was treated especially well. 

Napoleon seemed amused by this novel per- 
formance, and later he wished to have one 
hundred napoleons divided among the sailors. 
He was made, however, to feel his altered 
position when, after some discussion, the Ad- 
miral courteously but decidedly refused his 
request. 

There were probably few on the Northum- 
berland who did not deeply sympathize with 
the fallen Emperor. On this long, monotonous 
voyage, when his only amusements were con- 
versation and an occasional evening game of 
whist with his friends, he seemed to be trying 
to make the best of the situation. 

On the morning when the Northumberland 
approached St. Helena, the Emperor dressed 
early, and going up on deck stepped forward 
on the gangway. It was the fifteenth of Oc- 
tober when the ship, after its long voyage, lay 
at anchor. The Emperor, standing on the 
gangway with Las Cases behind him, looked 



44 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

through his glass at the shore. Directly in 
front he saw a little village, surrounded by 
barren and naked hills, reaching toward the 
clouds. Wherever he looked, on every plat- 
form, at every aperture, on every hill, was a 
cannon. Las Cases, watching his face intently, 
could perceive no change of expression, for 
Napoleon now had full control of himself. 
Unmoved he could look on the island that was 
to be his prison, perhaps his grave. He did 
not stay long on deck, but, turning about, 
asked Las Cases to lead the way to his cabin. 
There they went on with their usual occupa- 
tion, waiting until they should be told that 
the time for landing had come. 

During the long voyage Napoleon had won 
the regard of most persons on the ship. The 
Northumberland was terribly crowded, but 
while others grumbled, he made no complaint 
of the great discomfort, although he, like the 
others, was affected by it. Already he had 
begun to practise that stoicism which, on the 
whole, was the keynote of his life at St. Helena. 



CHAPTER IV 

NAPOLEON AT THE BRIARS 

NAPOLEON quickly fitted himself into 
his place in his new surroundings. So 
adaptable was he that the children soon 
ceased to regard him as a stranger, nor were 
they inclined to criticise his habits, although 
in most respects his ways were quite unlike 
those of the Balcombe family. For example, 
he did not breakfast as they did. After rising 
at eight o'clock, he satisfied himself with a 
cup of coffee and had his first hearty meal, 
breakfast or luncheon as they variously called 
it, at one. It was nine o'clock in the evening 
before he dined, and eleven when he with- 
drew to his own room. 

The Pavilion, the building that chiefly 
formed his new abode, was a short distance 
from the main building of The Briars. It had 
one good room on the ground floor, and two 
garrets. Napoleon selected this Pavilion, not 



46 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

because it was really more convenient for him, 
but because by occupying it he would less 
disturb the Balcombe family than by taking 
quarters in the main house. 

Las Cases and his son were in one of the 
garrets, and Napoleon's chief valet de chambre 
and others of his household were in the sec- 
ond. The rooms were so crowded that some 
of the party had to sleep on the floor of the 
little hall. The Pavilion had been built by 
Betsy's father as a ballroom, and had a cer- 
tain stateliness. The large room opened on a 
lawn, neatly fenced around, and in the centre 
of the lawn was a marquee, connected with the 
house by a covered way. The marquee had two 
compartments. The inner one was Napoleon's 
bedroom, and in the other General Gorgaud 
slept. There was little but the beds in the mar- 
quee. General Gorgaud slept on a small tent 
bed with green silk hangings, which Napoleon 
had had with him in all his campaigns. 

Between the two divisions of the marquee 
some of the servants of Napoleon had carved 
a huge crown in the green turf, on which the 
Emperor was obliged to step as he passed 
through. 



NAPOLEON AT THE BRIARS 47 

At first Count Bertrand and Count Mon- 
tholon with their families were lodged at Mr. 
Porteous's house in the town, where a suitable 
table was prepared for them in the French 
style. They could go to The Briars whenever 
they wished, accompanied by a British officer 
or Dr. O'Meara, who was appointed physician 
to Napoleon; or, followed by a soldier, they 
were permitted to visit any part of the island 
except the forts and batteries. 

A captain of artillery resided at The Briars, 
and at first a sergeant and soldiers were also 
stationed there. But the presence of the sol- 
diers was evidently needless, as well as so 
disagreeable to the family that, on hearing 
various remonstrances, Sir George Cockburn 
ordered them away. 

But for the presence of the artillery officer, 
Napoleon during his stay at The Briars might 
almost have forgotten that he was a prisoner. 
He and his suite appreciated the unfailing 
kindness of Mr. Balcombe and his family, 
who from the first left nothing undone for the 
comfort of the exiles. During the early days 
of his stay the dinner for the French people 
at The Briars was sent out from town, but 



48 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

soon Mr. Balcombe fitted up a little kitchen, 
connected with the Pavilion, where Napoleon's 
accomplished cook had every opportunity to 
display his skill. Very often after dinner Na- 
poleon obligingly went outside for a walk, that 
his attendants might finish their dinner in the 
room that he had left. 

Soon after his arrival Napoleon was visited 
by Colonel Wilks, Governor of St. Helena, 
Mrs. Wilks, and other officials of the island, 
and some of the leading citizens and their 
families. He had not yet begun to seclude 
himself, and he and his companions seemed 
to be trying to make the best of their situa- 
tion. Then and later evening parties were oc- 
casionally given by the French without much 
appearance of restraint. Napoleon accepted 
no invitations except those given by his friends 
at The Briars, and in one or two unusual 
cases, but the others went sometimes to the 
well- attended balls given by Sir George 
Cockburn. 

Madames Bertrand and Montholon and the 
rest of Napoleon's suite, for whom there was 
not room at The Briars, often came to see 
him there, and remained during the day. To 



NAPOLEON AT THE BRIARS 49 

them he was still le grand empereur. His 
every look was watched, every wish was an- 
ticipated, and they showed him great rever- 
ence. Some have thought that in dealing with 
them he insisted too much on the etiquette of 
a court, but certainly none of the suite com- 
plained of formality. 

Napoleon was always polite to guests at 
The Briars, and once went to a large party 
given by Mr. Balcombe, pleasing every one by 
his urbanity. When guests were introduced 
he always asked their profession, and then 
turned the conversation in that direction. 
People were always surprised at the extent of 
his information. Officers and others on the 
way from China sought introductions and were 
seldom refused. 

Indeed in those first months his attitude to 
people was very different from what it was 
later. Not infrequently he himself invited 
people to dine with him. 

Most of Napoleon's suite shared with him 
a feeling of friendliness for the Balcombe 
family. Las Cases, however, was always ready 
to criticise Miss Betsy, whose hoydenish ways 
he could never understand. One evening, 



50 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

when she was turning over the leaves of 
Estille's "Floriant," seeing that Gaston de 
Foix was called General, she asked Napoleon 
whether he was satisfied with him and whether 
he had escaped or was still living. This ques- 
tion shocked Las Cases, for it seemed to him 
extraordinary that a girl should imagine that 
the famous Gaston de Foix had been a 
general under Napoleon. 

But this was not a very strange mistake for 
a little English girl to make. It is to be 
feared that Las Cases always took a certain 
pleasure in correcting the faults of the young 
Balcombes, or in reporting them to their 
parents. 

From the first Napoleon claimed more of 
the society of Betsy than of the other mem- 
bers of the family, and so agreeable were his 
manners toward her that the little girl soon 
began to regard him as a companion of her 
own, with whom she could be perfectly at 
ease, rather than as one much older. 

"His spirits were very good, and he was at 
times almost boyish in his love of mirth and 
glee, not unmixed sometimes with a tinge of 
malice," wrote Betsy years later. 



NAPOLEON AT THE BRIARS 51 

"Jane," said Betsy to her sister, not long 
after Napoleon's arrival, "the Emperor has 
invited us to dine with him. What fun it will 
be!" 

"I don't know. I am afraid it will be ter- 
ribly solemn." 

"Oh, no; I am not afraid of that. The 
Emperor isn't solemn. You ought to get ac- 
quainted with him, and you wouldn't think 
so." 

Jane shook her head dubiously. 

"I am half afraid of him. I don't see how 
you can dare to trifle so with him. What were 
you laughing at yesterday when Lucy was 
here? I thought the Emperor looked rather 
silly." 

"Well, perhaps he did, if you put it that 
way," responded the blunt Betsy. " Only Lucy 
was sillier. I thought she would drag me to 
the ground when I told her the Emperor was 
coming across the lawn." 

"Then why did you run and bring him up 
to her? I saw you do it." 

"I needn't have done that. I did more 
harm than good. I told her he wasn't 
the cruel creature she thought him. But I 



52 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

oughtn't to have told the Emperor she was 
afraid of him. At least, I wouldn't have done 
so had I known how he would act, for he 
brushed up his hair so it stood out like a 
savage's, and when he came up to Lucy he 
gave a queer growl so that she screamed until 
mamma thought she might have hysterics and 
hurried her out into the house." 

"It was ridiculous for a man to act like a 
child," responded the sedate Jane, who had 
not acquired Betsy's admiration for Napoleon. 

"It was more ridiculous for her to scream. 
Napoleon laughed so at her that I had to 
take her part. 'I thought you a kind of an 
ogre, too/ I said, 'before I knew you.' 'Per- 
haps you think I couldn't frighten you now,' 
he answered, 'but see;' and then he brushed 
his hair up higher and made faces, and he 
looked so queer that I could only laugh at 
him. 'So I can't frighten you!' he said, and 
then he howled and howled, and at last 
seemed disappointed that I wasn't alarmed. 
'It's a Cossack howl,' he explained, 'and 
ought to terrify you!' To tell you the truth, 
it was something terrible, but though I didn't 
like it I wouldn't flinch. Of course it was all 



in fun, for he is really very kind-hearted," 
concluded Betsy. 

"All the same I don't enjoy the thought of 
having dinner with him," responded the prac- 
tical Jane. "I've half a mind not to go." 

"Oh, Jane, that would never do! What 
would the Emperor think? After you have 
been invited, too. Besides, mother wouldn't 
let you stay away. An invitation from royalty 
is a command." 

"But Napoleon isn't " 

"Hush," cried Betsy, not wishing to hear 
her new friend belittled. She always took 
offence if any one called him prisoner. 

In spite of her professed distaste for the 
dinner, Jane would have been disappointed 
had she been obliged to stay at home. She 
set out gayly enough, proud in her secret heart 
that she was to have the honor of being in 
the company of the great man. 

Nine o'clock, Napoleon's dinner hour, was 
late for the little girls. As they entered his 
apartment the Emperor greeted them cor- 
dially, meeting them with extended hands, 
and a moment after, Cipriani, his maitre 
d'hotelj stood at the door. 



54 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

"Le diner de votre Majeste est servi." 
Whereupon Napoleon, with a girl on each 
side, led the way after Cipriani, who walked 
backward, followed by the rest of his suite, 
who were dining with him. 

Hardly had they taken their places when 
Napoleon began to quiz Betsy on the fond- 
ness of the English for "rosbif and plum 
pudding." 

"It is better than eating frogs." 

"Oh, my dear Mees, how you wrong us!" 

"Ah, but see here!" cried Betsy, and she 
brought him a caricature of a long, lean 
Frenchman with his mouth open, his tongue 
out, and a frog on the tip of it, ready to 
jump down his throat. Under it was written, 
"A Frenchman's Dinner." 

The Emperor laughed loudly at this. 'You 
are impertinent," he cried, pinching Betsy's 
ear. "I must show this to the petit Las Cases. 
He will not love you so much for laughing at 
his countrymen." 

Upon this Betsy turned very red. The Em- 
peror had touched a vulnerable point. The 
young Las Cases, a boy of fourteen, was 
now at dinner with them, and Napoleon 



NAPOLEON AT THE BRIARS 55 

had found that he could easily tease Betsy 
about him. 

"He will not want a wife," continued Na- 
poleon, "who makes fun of him;" and Betsy, 
inwardly enraged, could only maintain a digni- 
fied silence. 

The Emperor gazed intently at his young 
friend, and later, when they rose from the 
table, he called young Las Cases. 

"Come, kiss her; this is your revenge." 

Betsy looked about vainly for a means of 
escape. But the Emperor had already closed 
his hands over hers, holding them so that she 
had no chance to get away, while young Las 
Cases, with a mischievous smile, approached 
and kissed her. 

As soon as her hands were at liberty, Betsy 
boxed the boy's ears and awaited her chance 
to pay Napoleon off. 

There was no inside hall to go from Na- 
poleon's apartments to the rest of the house, 
and it was necessary to pass outside along a 
steep, narrow path, wide enough for only one 
at a time. 

An idea flashed into the mind of mischiev- 
ous Betsy as Napoleon led the way, followed 



56 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

by Count Las Cases, his son, and last by 
Jane. 

Betsy let the others get ahead of her, and 
waited when they were about ten yards dis- 
tant. Then with might and main she dashed 
ahead, running with full force against the 
luckless Jane, who fell with extended hand 
upon young Las Cases. He in turn struck 
against his father, and the latter, to his dismay, 
against Napoleon. 

The latter could hardly hold his footing, 
while Betsy in the rear, delighted with the 
success of her plan, jumped and screamed 
with pleasure. 

The Emperor said nothing, but Las Cases, 
horror-struck at the insult offered his master, 
became furiously angry as Betsy's laughter fell 
on his ear. 

Turning back, he caught her roughly by the 
shoulder and pushed her against the rocky 
bank. It was now Betsy's turn to be angry. 

"Oh, sir, he has hurt me!" 

"Never mind, "replied Napoleon; "to please 
you, I will hold him while you punish him." 

Thereupon it was young Las Cases's place 
to tremble. While the great man held him by 



NAPOLEON AT THE BRIARS 57 

the hands, Betsy gleefully boxed his ears until 
he begged for mercy. 

"Stop, stop!" he cried. 

"No, I will not. This has all been your 
fault. If you hadn't kissed me - 

"There, there," at last called the Emperor 
to the boy, "I will let you go, but you must run 
as fast as you can. If you cannot run faster 
than Betsy, you deserve to be beaten again." 

The young French page did not wait for 
a second warning, but starting off at a run 
travelled as fast as he could, with Betsy 
in full pursuit. Napoleon, watching them, 
laughed heartily and clapped his hands as 
the two raced around the grounds. The little 
encounter amused him, but Las Cases the 
elder took the matter more seriously. 

Betsy wrote, "From that moment Las Cases 
never liked me, after this adventure, and used 
to call me a little rude hoyden." 

The next afternoon Betsy and Jane joined 
the Emperor, accompanied by General Gor- 
gaud, in a walk in a meadow. 

"Look, Betsy!" cried Jane, "there are the 
cows I saw the other day. I am half afraid 
of them." 



68 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

"Nonsense! How silly!" cried the intrepid 
Betsy. "Afraid of a cow!" and she repeated 
her sister's fear to Napoleon. The latter, pro- 
fessing to be surprised and amused at Jane's 
fears, joined with Betsy in a laugh at her 
sister's expense. But even the dread of ridicule 
had little effect on Jane. 

"Oh, Betsy," she cried, "I am sure one of 
those cows is coming at us!" 

Looking up, Betsy had to admit that her 
sister might be right. One of the cows was 
rushing toward them with her head down, as 
if ready to attack the party. It was no time 
for words, and Napoleon, feeling it no disgrace 
to retreat in the presence of such an enemy, 
jumped nimbly over a wall and, standing 
behind it, was thus protected against the 
enemy. 

General Gorgaud did not run, but standing 
with drawn sword exclaimed, "This is the 
second time I have saved the Emperor's life." 

From behind his wall Napoleon laughed 
loudly at Gorgaud's boast. 

'You ought to have put yourself in the 
position to repel cavalry," he cried. 

"But really, Monsieur," said Betsy, "it was 



NAPOLEON AT THE BRIARS 59 

you who terrified the cows, for the moment 
you disappeared over the wall the animal 
became calm and tranquil." 

"Well, well," cried Napoleon, again laugh- 
ing, "it is a pity she could not carry out her 
good intentions. Evidently she wished to save 
the English Government the expense and 
trouble of keeping me." 

"Betsy," said the sedate Jane a little later, 
when she had a chance to talk to her sister 
alone, "you ought not to speak so to the 
Emperor. You treat him like a child." 

"Well, he seems like one of us, doesn't he, 
Jane? I always feel as if he were one of us, 
a brother of our own age, and I am sure he is 
much happier than if we acted as if we were 
afraid of him. But still, if you like, I will 
walk very solemnly now." 

So Betsy walked along beside her sister 
with a slow and mincing step, her face as 
long as if she had lost her best friend. As 
she approached the Emperor he noticed the 
change. 

"Eh, bien ! qu'as tu, Mademoiselle Betsee ?" 
he asked. "Has le petit Las Cases proved 
inconstant ? If he have, bring him to me." 



60 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

Instantly Betsy's new resolves melted away 
and for the rest of the walk she and Napoleon 
were in their usual mood of good comradeship. 

The next morning, when Napoleon joined 
the family circle at The Briars, one of Betsy's 
little brothers, hardly more than a baby, sat 
on Napoleon's knee, and began to amuse 
himself as usual by playing with the glittering 
decorations and orders that Napoleon wore. 

"Come, Mees Betsee," he cried, "there is 
no pleasing this child. You must come and 
cut off these jewels to satisfy him." 

"Oh, I have something better to do now!" 
cried little Alexander, jumping from Napo- 
leon's knee and picking up a pack of cards. 
"Look!" he continued, pointing to the figure 
of a Grand Mogul on the back of each card, 
"look, Bony, this is you." 

At first the Emperor, with his imperfect 
knowledge of English, did not exactly under- 
stand the child's meaning. When he did, in- 
stead of taking offence, he only smiled as he 
turned to Betsy, saying, "But what does he 
mean by calling me * Bony ' ? " 

"Ah," replied Betsy in French, "it is short 
for Bonaparte." JLas Cases, however, trying 



NAPOLEON AT THE BRIARS 61 

to improve on the little girl's definition, inter- 
preted the word literally, "a bony person." 

Napoleon laughed at this reply, adding, 
"Je ne suis pas osseux" and this was all. 
Alexander was not reproved for his familiarity. 

It was true that Bonaparte was far from 
thin or bony, and Betsy had often admired 
his plump hand, which she had more than 
once called the prettiest in the world. Its 
knuckles were dimpled like a baby's, the fin- 
gers taper and beautifully formed, and the 
nails perfect. 

; 'Your hand does not look large and strong 
enough to hold a sword," she said to him one 
day. 

"Ah, but it is," said one of his suite, who 
was present. Drawing his own sabre from its 
scabbard, he pointed to a stain on it, saying, 
"This is the blood of an Englishman." 

"Sheathe your sword," cried the Emperor. 
"It is bad taste to boast, particularly before 
ladies. But if you will pardon me," and he 
looked toward the others in the room, "I will 
show you a sword of mine." 

Then from its embossed sheath Napoleon 
drew a wonderful sword with a handle in the 



62 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

shape of a golden fleur-de-lis. The sheath 
itself was hardly less remarkable, made of a 
single piece of tortoise shell, studded with 
golden bees. 

The children were delighted when the Em- 
peror permitted them to touch the wonderful 
weapon. It was the most beautiful sword they 
had ever seen. 

As Betsy held the sword in her hands, un- 
luckily she remembered a recent incident in 
which she had been at a great disadvantage 
under the Emperor's teasing. Now was her 
chance to get even with her tormentor. 

With her usual heedlessness of consequences 
she drew out the sword and began to make 
passes at Napoleon until she had driven him 
into a corner. 

; 'You must say your prayers," she said, 
"for I am going to kill you." 

"Oh, Betsy, how can you!" remonstrated 
the more prudent Jane, rushing to the Em- 
peror's assistance. "I will go and tell father." 

But Betsy only laughed at her. 

"I don't care," she cried. "People tease me 
when they like. Now it is my turn;" and she 
continued to thrust the sword dangerously 



NAPOLEON AT THE BRIARS 63 

near Napoleon's face, until her strength was 
exhausted, and her arm fell at her side. 
Count Las Cases, the dignified chamberlain, 
who had entered the room during the en- 
counter, looked on indignantly. He did not 
quite dare to interfere, although his indigna- 
tion was plainly expressed in his face. Already 
he had taken a deep dislike to the little girl, 
and to him the sword incident seemed the 
climax of her misbehavior. If looks could kill, 
she would have perished on the spot. 

Although the Frenchman's expression had 
not the power to annihilate Betsy, something 
in his look warned her that she had gone far 
enough. Daring though she was, she decided 
that her wisest course was to give up the 
weapon. As she handed the sword back to 
him, Napoleon playfully pinched her ear. 

It happened, unluckily, however, that Bet- 
sy's ear had been bored only the day before. 
The pinch consequently caused her some pain. 
Without venturing to resist the Emperor's 
touch, she gave a sharp exclamation. She 
knew that he had not intended to hurt her. 



CHAPTER V 

BETSY'S BALL-GOWN 

WHEN the little flurry over the sword 
had ended, Napoleon seemed lost in 
thought, and the children wondered 
what he was thinking of. Perhaps the laugh- 
ing ways of these young people reminded him 
of his little son, whose growth from babyhood 
to youth he was destined never to see. Some 
such thought must have been in his mind 
when he turned to one of his attendants, 
saying: 

"I believe that these children would like to 
see some of my bijouterie. Go bring me those 
miniatures of the King of Rome." 

In a short time the messenger returned, 
laden with little boxes, while the children 
loudly expressed their delight. They knew the 
story of the young Napoleon, once the pride 
of the French nation, on whom had been 
conferred the title King of Rome. They knew 



BETSY'S BALL-GOWN 65 

that he had gone to live with the Austrian 
Emperor, father of his mother, Maria Louisa, 
and perhaps some of them had heard of his 
stout resistance to those who came to take 
him away from his beautiful home, the 
Tuileries. Already they had seen some of the 
portraits of the little boy, brought by Napoleon 
to St. Helena, and they were pleased by the 
idea of seeing others of the. collection. 

So they gathered around the Emperor as 
children will when something interesting is to 
be shown them. 

"How lovely!" cried Jane, gazing at the 
miniature she was first allowed to hold in her 
hand. 

It was indeed a beautiful picture, showing 
a baby asleep in his cradle, which was in the 
shape of a helmet of Mars. Above his head 
the banner of France was waving and in his 
tiny right hand was a small globe. 

"What does it mean?" asked Betsy, a little 
timidly now, as she noted the expression of 
mingled pride and sadness in Napoleon's face. 

"Ah, those are the symbols of greatness. 
He is to be a great warrior and rule the world." 

"Yes in a minute," murmured Betsy, as 



66 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

one of the boys whispered to her to translate 
" Je prie le bon Dieu pour mon pere, ma mere, et 
ma patrie," inscribed beneath a picture of the 
child on a snuffbox cover, which showed the 
little fellow in prayer before a crucifix. Then 
they both looked at another miniature por- 
traying him riding one lamb, while he was 
decking another with ribbons. 

"Ah!" mused the Emperor again sadly. 
"Those were real lambs. They were given 
him by the inhabitants of Paris, a hint, I 
suppose, that they would rather have peace 
than war." 

"And this is his mother," continued the 
Emperor, as a woman, far less handsome than 
Josephine, was shown in the miniature with 
the boy, surrounded by a halo of roses and 
clouds. 

"She is beautiful," exclaimed Napoleon; 
"but I will show you the most beautiful 
woman in the world." 

The girls echoed his words. "I never saw 
any one so beautiful in my life," cried Betsy, 
gazing on the portrait of a young, charming 
woman. 

"And you never will," avowed Napoleon. 



BETSY'S BALLGOWN 67 

"The Princess of- ' queried one of the 
French. 

"My sister Pauline," said Napoleon, "and 
you show good taste in admiring her. She is 
probably one of the loveliest women ever 
created." 

"But now," he continued, when they had 
seen all the pictures, "let us go down to the 
cottage and play whist." 

Turning reluctantly from the miniatures, 
the children walked down to the cottage and 
soon were ready to play. 

But the cards did not deal smoothly enough. 
"Go off there by yourself," said Napoleon to 
young Las Cases, "and deal until the cards 
run better. And now, Mees Betsy, tell me 
about your robe de bal." 

Betsy's face flushed with pleasure. "Do 
you really want to see it? I will go upstairs 
and get it." 

To Betsy the ball to be given soon by Sir 
George Cockburn was a wonderful affair. It 
was considered a great event by all the 
people of the island, but for Betsy it had 
a special significance, because it would be her 
very first ball. In England, at her age, her 



68 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

parents would not have thought of letting her 
go to a ball, but amusements were so few at 
St. Helena that to keep her home would have 
seemed cruel. 

At first her parents had objected to her 
going, but when Napoleon saw her in tears 
one day and learned why, he asked her father 
to let her go, and thus she gained her father's 
consent. 

It is not strange then that the little girl 
took a great interest in her gown for the ball, 
and since she felt indebted to the Emperor for 
his intercession, she was pleased that he ex- 
pressed an interest in her costume. 

So she ran upstairs light-heartedly to get 
the new gown, and in a few minutes returned 
with it on her arm. 

"It is very pretty," cried the Emperor, 
examining the gown critically; and all the 
others, except the stern Las Cases, had a 
word of commendation for it. 

It was a delicately pretty gown, trimmed 
with soft roses. Even if it had not been her 
first ball-gown, Betsy's pride in it would have 
been justified; but as things were, no cynical 
person could have found fault with her for 



BETSY'S BALLGOWN 69 

picturing to herself what a fine impression she 
would make at this first appearance at a 
grown-up function. 

The Emperor's praises were particularly 
gratifying, because he had a way of ridiculing 
any detail of dress that he did not like. 

"Oh, Mees Betsee," he would cry, "why 
do you wear trousers? You look just like a 
boy;" and any one who has seen pictures of 
girls in pantalets will admit that they merited 
criticism. Or again he would say: 

"If I were governor I would make a law 
against ladies wearing those ugly, short waists. 
Why do you wear them, Mees Betsee ? " 

It was, therefore, delightful to the young 
girl that he approved her ball-gown. 

After sufficient praise had been given the 
dress, the four sat down to play, Napoleon 
and Jane against Las Cases and Betsy. 

"Mademoiselle Betsee," said the Emperor, 
"I tire of sugar-plums. I bet you a napoleon 
on the game. What will you put against it?" 

"I have no money," replied Betsy, a little 
shyly for her. "I have nothing worth a na- 
poleon except oh, yes my little pagoda. 
Will that do?" 



70 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

The Emperor laughed. "Yes, that will do, 
and I will try to get it." 

So they began in merry spirits. 

"There, there," cried Betsy after a minute 
or two, "that isn't fair. You mustn't show 
your cards to Jane." 

"But this is such a good one." Napoleon's 
eye twinkled. 

"Well, it isn't fair," added Betsy with the 
excitement in her tone often observable in 
vivacious natures. As the cards were shuffled 
she repeated, "Remember, you mustn't look 
at your cards until they are all dealt." 

"But it seems so long to wait." 

"Then I won't play. You revoked on 
purpose." 

"Did I? Then I must hide my guilt;" and 
Napoleon mixed all the cards indiscriminately 
together, while Betsy tried to hold his hands 
to prevent further mischief, as she pointed 
out what he had done. 

Napoleon, amused by Betsy's indignation, 
laughed until the tears came. 

"Mees Betsy, Mees Betsy, I am surprised. 
I played so fair, and you have cheated so; 
you must pay me the forfeit, the pagoda." 



BETSY'S BALLGOWN 71 

"No, Monsieur, you revoked." 

"Oh, but Mees Betsy, but you are mdchante 
and a cheat. Ah, but I will keep you from 
going to the ball!" 

While they were playing Betsy had quite 
forgotten the pretty gown that she had laid 
carefully on the sofa. Now, all too late, she 
realized its danger, for the Emperor, suddenly 
turning toward the sofa, seized it, and before 
she could stop him ran out of the room with 
it, toward the Pavilion. 

Betsy in alarm quickly followed, but though 
she went fast, Napoleon went faster, and had 
locked himself in his room before she reached 
him. 

Poor Betsy was now thoroughly frightened. 
She was sure that her pretty gown, with its 
trimmings of soft roses, would be destroyed. 

"Oh, give it to me, please!" she cried in 
English, as she knocked upon his door. But 
the Emperor made no reply. Then she made 
her appeal in French, using every beseeching 
word she knew to get him to return it. Still 
his only answer was a mocking laugh, repeated 
several times, and an occasional word of 
refusal. Nor did any one else come to Betsy's 



72 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

assistance. As short a time as the French had 
lived at The Briars there was hardly one of 
them on whom Betsy had not played some 
trick, and even the members of her own family 
were unsympathetic when a message was 
brought her from Napoleon that he intended 
to keep her dress and that she might as well 
make up her mind she could not go to the ball. 

Poor Betsy! At night, after many wakeful 
hours, she cried herself to sleep. When morn- 
ing came things did not seem so black. She 
felt sure that the Emperor would not do what 
he had no right to do, keep her pretty dress. 
He would surely send it back to her. But the 
morning wore away, and, contrary to his habit, 
Napoleon did not come near his neighbors of 
The Briars. Betsy sent several strongly ap- 
pealing messages, but to them all came only 
one reply: 

'The Emperor is sleeping, and cannot be 
disturbed." 

So strong indeed was the dignity with which 
Napoleon had hedged himself, that even the 
daring Betsy did not venture to intrude upon 
him when he was resting. 

Afternoon came, and at last it was almost 



BETSY'S BALLGOWN 73 

time to start for the valley. The family were 
to ride there on horseback, carrying their ball- 
dresses in tin cases, and they were to dress 
at the house of a friend. 

The horses were brought around, the black 
boys came up with the tin cases that held the 
dresses the dresses of the rest of the party 
but nothing of poor Betsy's. The little girl's 
cup was full to overflowing; she, the courage- 
ous, began to cry. 

She turned to one of the servants : 

"Has my dress been packed?" 

"Of course not; we didn't have it to pack." 

"Then I cannot go." 

Her tears had ceased. She was now too 
angry to cry longer. 

"I will go anyway," she said on second 
thought. "I will dance in my morning frock, 
and then you will all feel sorry, for I will tell 
every one how I have been treated." 

At this moment a figure was seen running 
down the lawn. It was Napoleon, and Betsy 
gave a scream of delight as she saw that in his 
arms he carried her dress. 

Her face brightened and she hastened to 
meet him. 



74 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

"Here, Mees Betsy," he cried; "I have 
brought your dress. I hope you are a good 
girl now, and that you will like the ball; and 
mind you dance with Gorgaud." 

"Yes, yes!" said Betsy, too happy to get 
her dress to oppose any suggestion, although 
General Gorgaud was no favorite of hers and 
she had a long-standing feud with him. 

"You will find your roses still fresh," said 
the Emperor. "I ordered them arranged and 
pulled out, in case any were crushed." 

To the little girl's delight, when she ex- 
amined her gown she found that no harm 
had been done it, in spite of the rough 
treatment it had received at Napoleon's 
hands. 

"I wish you were going, sire," she said 
politely, as he walked beside the horses to the 
end of the bridle path. 

"Ah, balls are not for me," he replied, 
shaking his head. Then he stopped. 

"Whose house is that?" he asked, pointing 
to a house in the valley far beneath. "It is 
beautifully situated," he continued; "some 
time I shall visit it. Come, Las Cases, we 
must not detain the party." 



BETSY'S BALL-GOWN 75 

"We must hurry on," whispered one of those 
on horseback. 

"Good-bye, good-bye," and Napoleon and 
the elder Las Cases went down the mountain 
toward the house that he had seen in the 
distance, while Betsy and the others rode on 
toward the ball. 

Next day Napoleon said that he had been 
charmed with the beautiful place in the valley 
that he and Las Cases had visited after he 
had seen the others ride away to the ball. He 
had found the owner of the place, Mr. 
Hodgdon, very agreeable, and at last he had 
ridden home on an Arab horse that the latter 
had lent him. 

Before Napoleon withdrew within his shell 
he was not only inclined to receive visitors 
but to pay visits. Betsy and Jane were riding 
gayly along one day when they came unex- 
pectedly upon Napoleon, also on horseback. 

"Where have you been?" asked the ven- 
turesome Betsy. 

'To Candy Bay," replied Napoleon, with- 
out resenting her inquisitiveness. 

"Oh, didn't you think Fairyland just the 
most perfect place?" 



76 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

;< Yes, indeed, I was delighted with it and 
with its venerable host, Mr. D. He is a typ- 
ical Englishman of the highest type." 

'Yes, and only think, he is over seventy 
years old and yet has never left the island. 
I don't know what St. Helena would do with- 
out him," said Jane. 

"I call him the good genius of the valley," 
added Betsy. 



CHAPTER VI 

A HORSE TAMER 

ONE morning, not long after the ball, 
Betsy took a slight revenge on the 
Emperor. She had a certain favor to 
ask of him, and she had gone to look for him 
in his favorite retreat in his garden, the 
Grapery, near a large pond of clear water, 
full of gold and silver fish. Though called a 
grapery, vines of many different kinds twined 
over the trellis-work, while the grapevines 
were chiefly over an arbor at the end. 

In the sultriest weather this little arbor was 
cool and pleasant, and here Napoleon was in 
the habit of taking his books and papers 
when he wished to work out of doors. 

He had no regular hour for rising, and some- 
times he would go there as early as four 
o'clock and write until breakfast, or dictate to 
Las Cases. No one was permitted to intrude 
pn him there, no one but Betsy occasionally, 



78 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

and then it could hardly be called intruding, 
for she usually went at the Emperor's request, 
or, as it might be said, she had a general 
invitation. When Betsy said, "Come and un- 
lock the garden door," Napoleon stopped, even 
in the middle of the sentence he might be 
dictating, and she was always admitted. This 
general invitation, however, might have been 
withdrawn if Betsy had not been too sensible 
to interrupt the Emperor often. She was care- 
ful not to abuse what was for her a special 
privilege. 

On this particular morning she went to the 
arbor door with some hesitation. One of her 
friends from the valley, a very charming girl, 
had come to pass the morning with her. 

"Now, Betsy," she had said, "I hear that 
you are a great favorite with Napoleon and 
you must introduce me, for I am just dying 
to see him." 

"I do not think I can," replied Betsy. "It 
is a very hot morning and I saw him go early 
to the arbor. I do not like to disturb him 
when he is busy." 

"Busy! How can a prisoner be busy? It 
cannot matter whether he is idle or busy." 



A HORSE TAMER 79 

"He is not a prisoner, at least we don't call 
him so," retorted Betsy indignantly, "and he 
is writing books." 

"Oh, I suppose you know best, but if you 
cannot be obliging, I shall be mortified when 
I go home to say that I did not see him. I 
heard you knew him so well, that I supposed 
you wouldn't mind introducing me." 

Thus put on her mettle, Betsy yielded 
against her better judgment and went down 
to the arbor. 

At first there was no answer to her knock. 
Napoleon had fallen asleep over his papers. 
At last she succeeded in arousing him. "What 
do you want?" he asked rather gruffly as he 
came to the little door. 

"Let me in, and you will know." 

"No, tell me first what you want and then 
I will let you in." 

Betsy was not so sure of this, but since she 
could not help it, she had to explain her 
errand. 

"I wish to introduce a young lady to you." 

"Oh, no, indeed; I am not well." 

" But she will be so disappointed, and 
she is so pretty." 



80 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

"Not like the lady I was obliged to say 
agreeable things to yesterday ? " 

"Oh, no, she is very different. She is really 
young and handsome." 

"Very well, then, since you have promised, I 
suppose I must go, but come in for a minute," 
this not very politely, it must be admitted. 
As Betsy entered the little enclosure she rushed 
to the table and rather rudely snatched up 
some of the papers on which Napoleon had 
been at work. 

"Now," she said, "for your ill-nature in 
making me stand so long at the door, I shall 
keep these and find out all your secrets." 

The Emperor looked at Betsy with some 
alarm. He did not like to see his papers in 
her hands. 

"Put them down instantly," he cried. 

"No, no," rejoined Betsy, running around 
the garden with the papers held high above 
her head. The Emperor looked at her sternly. 

"Very well! Unless you obey me at once, 
I shall no longer be your friend." 

Hardly ever before had Betsy heard Na- 
poleon speak so severely. She saw that he was 
in earnest and that she must obey. She saw, 



A HORSE TAMER 81 

too, that she was in danger of losing his 
regard, and even without looking far ahead 
she realized that he might not go to her friend, 
if her own foolishness continued longer. So, 
giving up her trophies, she seized the Em- 
peror's hand and led him to the house. 

Now that he had yielded to Betsy's wishes, 
Napoleon was most courteous to her guest. 
He talked graciously to the young lady, com- 
plimented her on her beauty, and when she 
was ready to go home helped her on her 
horse. 

"She is a very pretty girl," he said later to 
Betsy, "but she has the airs of a marchande 
de modes." 

In thus intruding on Napoleon in his arbor 
study, Betsy had shown a rashness that no 
one else in the family w r ould have ventured to 
imitate. One day, however, Betsy aided an 
intruder, whose behavior the Emperor could 
not resent although he was disturbed by it. 

It happened in this way. One morning 
while Napoleon was busy in his outdoor study 
making notes, Betsy was romping about in the 
garden near by. 

"Come, Tom Pipes!" she called loudly; and 



82 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

a second later a beautiful Newfoundland dog 
rushed to her side. Tom Pipes belonged to 
Sir George Cockburn, the Admiral, arid was 
well known to every one at The Briars, as he 
was in the habit of accompanying his master 
on his occasional visits to Mr. BaU-ombe's 
house. After his long run up the mountainous 
road under the hot sun, Tom Pipes was always 
delighted to reach The Briars, for the p]a 
had many ponds and little streams, into which 
the intelligent dog would plunge for a swim. 

On this particular day, Tom needed no 
second word from Betsy to make him accept 
her invitation to take a dip in the pond, 
stocked with gold and silver fish, that was 
near Napoleon's arbor. The dog bathed and 
swarri and amused himself in the water, and 
at last clambered up the bank. A moment 
later, as if tired from his exertions, he lay 
down by Napoleon's side. Napoleon, like 
every one else at The Briars, knew and ad- 
mired the dog, and if he nofierd Tom Pi peg's 
approach had no objection to it. lie was so 
absorbed in his work, however, that he prob- 
ably was hardly aware of the nearness of the 
creature. After a few minutes' rest, Tom Pipes 



A HORSE TAMER 83 

realized that he had not completed his toilet. 
So, rising to his feet, he began to shake him- 
self vigorously. Instantly a shower of water 
bespattered Napoleon's face and clothing, and 
drenched the papers on the table. The sheet 
on which he was writing was entirely spoiled, 
and he himself looked rather ridiculous, as he 
tried to brush off the drops of water. In spite 
of his annoyance, Napoleon could not help 
laughing, for although he scolded and did his 
best to drive Tom Pipes away, the dog could not 
understand him. The two had been shipmates 
on the Northumberland, and the dog was so 
delighted to see Napoleon again that instead 
of running away, he kept jumping on him, 
leaving on the Emperor's clothing repeated 
imprints of his wet and muddy paws. 

While all this was happening, Betsy, look- 
ing on, was convulsed with laughter. She had 
not had this particular ending in mind when 
she had called Tom Pipes to play with her, but 
no deliberate practical joke of hers had ever 
been more amusing to her; and the best part of 
it was that the Kmperor could not really blame 
her nor punish Tom l'ij)es. 

Very often, however, it was not Betsy who 



84 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

got the best of a practical joke. Not infre- 
quently she lost her temper over little things 
that were not worth minding, and Napoleon, 
to whom she was a constant source of amuse- 
ment, could not forbear teasing her, just to 
see how she would take his fun. One day, 
looking over Betsy's shoulder, Napoleon dis- 
covered that her translation was not finished. 
Her father required this bit of work from her 
every day, and now Napoleon saw a way to 
pay her back in some of her own coin. 

Taking the paper from Betsy, and holding 
it aloft, the Emperor approached Mr. Bal- 
combe, who was now mounting his horse for 
a ride. 

"Balcombe," he cried, "voila le theme de 
Mdlle. Betsee. Qu'elle a bien travaille!" he 
concluded sarcastically. 

Betsy's father looked at the sheet of paper 
which was quite blank, and, entering into the 
spirit of the thing with Napoleon, he professed 
to be very angry. Calling Betsy to him, he 
reproved her severely. 

"If your translation is not ready when I 
return home to dinner, I will punish you 
severely." Mortified by this reproof, Betsy 



A HORSE TAMER 85 

cherished plans of retaliation against the Em- 
peror, which she carried out when she pinioned 
him in the corner with her sword. 

Yet after all she deserved the reproof, since 
her father had made a rigid rule that his 
daughters should have a translation from 
English into French ready every morning be- 
fore the hour when Napoleon visited The 
Briars. He rightly considered it a great privi- 
lege for the young girls that the great man 
should be willing to look at their French 
themes, with a view to improving their use 
of his language. 

One morning the sisters observed Archam- 
baud, Napoleon's groom, leading a beautiful 
horse in front of the house. 

"That is the Arab they have bought for 
him to ride." 

"I shouldn't think he'd care to ride that 
horse," responded the timid Jane. "See how 
he rears and plunges." 

"He's afraid of that white cloth on the lawn." 
'Yes, but they've put it there on purpose, 
to break him of the habit of shying." 

While they were speaking, Napoleon ap- 
proached. 



86 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

"Sir," said the confident Betsy, "I don't 
believe you can ride that horse." 

"I! Don't you think me a good rider?" 

"Yes; I think you look better on horseback 
than any one I have ever seen." 

"Only look!" Napoleon was trying to 
draw her out. 

"But you really ride better than anyone else, 
as I told you the other day when you rode 
around the lawn. I didn't suppose any one 
could make a horse wheel in such a narrow 
circle." 

* Yet you think this Arab could conquer me!" 

"But it looks so ugly, I mean its disposi- 
tion." 

The Emperor, without replying directly, 
called Archambaud to him and bade him 
dismount, while he took his seat on the fiery 
horse. The girls looked on in horror, but 
Napoleon only smiled the more, as he com- 
pelled the horse to pass the cloth and con- 
tinued his discipline until he made the 
creature put his foot on it. 

Archambaud gazed open-mouthed, hardly 
knowing whether to laugh or to cry. The 
Emperor persevered, and in a short time the 



A HORSE TAMER 87 

horse was absolutely obedient to him, and the 
groom, though chagrined at his own failure, 
was pleased by the Emperor's success. 

"Ah," said Napoleon, dismounting, "it 
would be a strange horse that did not under- 
stand me. There was one that I rode once 
one hundred and twenty-nine miles in one 
day. My mother was ill, and I had to do it; 
but the horse, poor thing, died in the course 
of the night." 

"And you?" asked Betsy. 

"Ah, I was fatigued, but in or out of the 
saddle makes little difference to me. I could 
almost sleep in the saddle. But, come, young 
ladies," he continued, "I came here to invite 
you to see my china. It is all unpacked." 

The girls followed the Emperor toward the 
house, and "Oh!" and "Ah!" they exclaimed 
loudly as they looked at the beautiful dishes 
lately arrived from France. Among them there 
were plates that had cost twenty-five na- 
poleons, each of them painted by a great 
artist. It was a beautiful set, given to the 
Emperor by the people of Paris, and the pic- 
tures were chiefly battle scenes commemorat- 
ing his great victories. 



88 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

Before one of these paintings, Betsy stood 
enraptured. It represented a slim youth, who 
looked almost tall, standing on a bridge and 
evidently cheering others on, while nearer him 
were the dead and dying. 

"And this was really you?" exclaimed 
Betsy, for she recognized the standing figure. 

; 'Yes," replied Napoleon, sighing, as if for 
his dead youth. "I was that boy. That was 
almost the beginning. I was more slender 
then than now." 

"This is the ibis?" asked Betsy, pointing 
to a bird that appeared on many plates. 

'Yes; these are mostly pictures of Egypt;" 
and the ibis led him to a long discourse on 
the Egyptian campaign. 

"But don't go to Egypt, Miss Betsy," he 
concluded. 'You will catch ophthalmia and 
spoil your eyes." 

" Pourquoi avez-vous tourne turque ?" ["Why 
did you turn Turk?"] interposed Betsy ab- 
ruptly. 

"What is that to you ?" he asked, laughing. 
The question referred to his having become 
a Mahometan, but at first it was not clear to 
Napoleon what she meant. 



A HORSE TAMER 89 

"I mean, why did you change your re- 
ligion?" Betsy explained. 

" Fighting is a soldier's religion," he re- 
plied. "I never changed that. The other is 
the affair of women and priests. Quant a moi, 
I always adopt the religion of the country I 
am in. And now," he said at last, "you have 
seen all the plates, and there are your little 
brothers coming up to find out what our 
Santini has made for them." 

Santini was Napoleon's lamplighter, a clever 
little fellow, who could make all kinds of toys 
and was always ready to play amusing tricks 
to entertain the children. 

" What has he now ? " the little boys asked as 
the man approached with a box under his arm. 

The children jumped about excitedly. Even 
the girls were curious, as, taking the box from 
under his arm, Santini displayed a tiny car- 
riage to which were harnessed two pairs of 
mice. In spite of Santini's efforts, they did 
not at once start off, as he had expected, to 
draw the carriage, and the boys appealed to 
the Emperor. 

"Pinch the tails of the leaders, and then 
they will go," commanded Napoleon. 



90 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

The boys obeyed, and to the great delight 
of the children the mice started off at full 
speed. As they watched the carriage and the 
scampering steeds, the children shouted and 
clapped their hands. 

One morning Betsy stood before Napoleon 
with an expression of disappointment on her 
pretty face. 

" Of course I thought you meant it." 

"But you are a foolish child." 

"Why shouldn't you give a ball before you 
leave The Briars ? Not a very great one, but 
just large enough for me to dance at. Soon 
you will be away, at Longwood. I thought 
you promised." 

'You must have known I was in fun." 

At last Betsy noted a tone in the Emperor's 
voice that warned her to go no further. 

"But since you are so disappointed," said 
Napoleon kindly, "you may have whatever 
you wish to ask of me. Dites-moi, que veux-tu 
que je fosse Mdlle. Betsee pour te consoler?" 
["Tell me, what do you wish me to do to 
console you ? "] 

Betsy's face brightened. 



A HORSE TAMER 91 

"Let us play the game of blindman's buff 
you have so often promised. Then I will 
forgive you for not having the ball, and never 
speak of it again." 

"Blindman's buff, as you describe it, did 
not seem to be just the game for me. Can't 
you think of something else ? " 

"But you promised, and your room is 
splendid for it, and it wouldn't be any fun 
without you." 

Seeing that resistance was useless, the Em- 
peror at last consented to play. He began by 
binding his fine white handkerchief over 
Betsy's eyes. 

"Can you see?" 

"I cannot see you." 

But Betsy, although she spoke truly in 
saying that she could not see the Emperor, 
could yet detect a glimmer of light. Napoleon 
waved his hands before her eyes, and the 
shadows and rush of air made her start. 

"Ah, leetle monkey, you can see me!" he 
exclaimed, and he put another handkerchief 
over her eyes. 

Then, with Betsy in the middle of the 
room, the game began. Soon the young 



92 NAPOLEON'S lYOUNG NEIGHBOR 

girl felt some one pull her nose roughly. 
She knew who had touched her, for, as 
he crept toward her, she recognized Napo- 
leon's footsteps. As she darted forward, he 
bounded away just as her hand touched his. 
Then, as she groped about, Napoleon pulled 
her ear. She was sure that she had recog- 
nized him and putting out her hand she cried 
triumphantly : 

"I have you, I have you! Now it is your 
turn." 

When Betsy uncovered her eyes she was 
mortified to find that it was her sister she had 
captured. Napoleon, it was true, had pulled 
her ear, but he had accomplished this by 
reaching his hand over Jane's head. Every 
one now laughed at Betsy. 

"Come," said Napoleon, "as you have made 
such a great mistake, you must pay the pen- 
alty and remain blindfolded." 

The Emperor continued to tease and quiz, 
pulling Betsy's ear or her dress, and always 
managing to escape being caught. 

At last, when the fun was at its height, a 
servant, entering, announced that some one 
had called to see the Emperor. So the young 



A HORSE TAMER 93 

people were left to themselves for a while. 
The game was at an end. 

"Now, Mees Betsy," exclaimed the Em- 
peror, when he returned to the room, "you 
and all the other players must come and dine 
with me." 

"But we have already dined." 

: ' Yet you must come. Now, Navarre," said 
the Emperor, when they had reached the 
marquee, "Mees Betsy is very fond of creams. 
Bring some for her." 

"I cannot eat them," protested Betsy. 

"But you told me you were so fond of 
them. Come, it is not kind to refuse." 

"But really I cannot eat." 

"Oh, nonsense!" 

Betsy made the effort, and ate half of a 
delicious cream. 

"That is not enough. I will feed you, little 
bambino, I will feed you;" and with spoon 
in hand Napoleon actually began to feed 
the little girl, laughing steadily at her as he 
did so. 

Only by running away did Betsy at last 
escape, and even then the Emperor called 
after her: 



94 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

"Stop, Mees Betsy, do stay and eat another. 
You know you told me you liked them.'* 

The next day Marchand brought to the 
sisters a box of bonbons with the Emperor's 
compliments, and with them came some of the 
famous creams for "Mdlle. Betsee." 



CHAPTER VII 

OFF FOR LONGWOOD 

NEW Year's Day was approaching, the 
day which French people love to cele- 
brate by making gifts to their friends 
and paying compliments. 

On this first New Year's morning of Na- 
poleon's exile on St. Helena, Betsy, looking 
from her window, saw young Tristram Mon- 
tholon and Henri Bertrand approaching. 

"Look, Jane," she cried excitedly, "they 
are carrying something; do you suppose - 

But without finishing her question or wait- 
ing for Jane to answer, Betsy had taken the 
shortest way to gratify her curiosity by run- 
ning to greet the boys. Immediately the two 
little fellows saluted her with New Year wishes 
and before she could ask a question had pre- 
sented each sister for Jane had followed 
her with a beautiful crystal basket. 

"Something Piron made for you," the boys 



96 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

explained; and the fingers of the two girls 
trembled with excitement as they began to 
uncover the contents of the baskets. Piron, 
Napoleon's confiseur, could do the most re- 
markable things. There was nothing he could 
not reproduce in sugar palaces, triumphal 
arches, all kinds of curious structures all 
looking too good to eat. Already Betsy and 
Jane had received presents from the Emperor, 
products of Piron's skill, accompanied usually 
by some pleasant message. But this New 
Year's gift surpassed their expectations, for 
when they tore off the white satin napkin, 
inside the baskets they saw that delicious 
bonbons were heaped within them on Sevres 
plates, a plate for each girl. 

"Cupidons for the Graces," was Napoleon's 
message accompanying the kindly gift. 

The first of the new year brought a certain 
regret to the family at The Briars and to 
Napoleon as well. His new home at Long- 
wood was nearly ready for him, and this 
meant that he should see much less of the 
charming family to which he had become 
attached. Longwood was several miles away, 
and the chance was that there he would be 



OFF FOR LONGWOOD 97 

guarded more closely and that it might be 
harder for the girls to see him. 

For the two months before New Year's, 
Longwood was as busy a place as a dock- 
yard in war. The Admiral was often there, 
hurrying lazy workmen. Every day two or 
three hundred seamen carried timber and other 
building materials and furniture to Longwood. 
Although Napoleon was in no hurry to go 
there indeed, he did not wish to go there 
at all he watched the workmen with great 
interest, as he observed them climbing up the 
heights between Longwood and The Briars. 
He would really have preferred to make The 
Briars his home, and he tried to get the 
Government to buy it for him, but for reasons, 
perhaps political, this could not be accom- 
plished. Longwood, in situation, was bleak 
and unshaded, and so exposed that it was not 
likely he could ever have a garden such as 
that at The Briars. Water had to be brought 
from a distance of three miles, and the houses 
that were to be remodelled for the French 
were known to be damp and unhealthy. The 
farmhouses w r hich Napoleon was to occupy 
were very plain and have even been called a 



98 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

collection of huts. The expenditure of much 
money could not make the place really com- 
fortable. 

Napoleon had now been on the island 
nearly three months. No longer was he re- 
garded by any one with dread, at least by 
any one who had come under his immediate 
influence. By the Balcombe family he was 
esteemed an amiable friend. They had had 
the chance to see him under all kinds of 
conditions, and if they did not regard him as 
exactly perfect, their feeling for him was one 
not only of great sympathy but respect. 

As the time for his departure approached 
he came more often to the drawing-room at 
The Briars. 

"Ah," he said, half sadly, to the family, 
"I would rather stay here than go to Long- 
wood. I could never have imagined it possible 
to be happy on such a horrible rock as St. 
Helena." 

One day General Bertrand, coming over 
from Longwood, told Napoleon the house 
smelled so of paint that it was not fit 
for him at present. All Napoleon's friends 
knew his great dislike for unpleasant odors, 



OFF FOR LONGWOOD 99 

and that paint was especially disagreeable 
to him. 

When the Emperor heard this report of the 
condition of Longwood, his rage almost choked 
him. He walked up and down the lawn, ges- 
ticulating wildly. 

"I will not live in a house that smells of 
paint. It is most horrible. I will send to the 
Admiral and refuse to go." 

Betsy had hardly ever seen him display such 
temper as he now showed, declaiming against 
the lack of consideration shown by the Gov- 
ernor. This excitement was a result probably 
of his general dislike for his new home. Al- 
though first interested in the workmen, toward 
the end he began to complain of the fifes and 
drums with which the soldier workmen urged 
themselves on as they wound their way up 
the hill. He had disliked Longwood from the 
day when he had first seen it, just after his 
arrival on the island, and what he heard 
about it had not changed his opinion. No fam- 
ily, it was said, had ever lived there longer 
than a few months, so unwholesome was its 
climate. This came from the situation of the 
place a plain on the top of a mountain, 



100 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

eighteen hundred feet high. It was on the 
windward side of the island, and only for a 
month or six weeks in the year was the 
weather pleasant. For three or four weeks it 
had the sun directly overhead; the rest of the 
year was wet and disagreeable. In the course 
of a single day there could be extreme changes 
of heat and cold. 

At last the day of departure came. Sir 
George Cockburn and all the Emperor's suite, 
some of whom lived at a distance from The 
Briars, came over to escort him. The younger 
members of the family stood around the house, 
showing their sadness very plainly. 

"You must not cry, Mdlle. Betsee," said 
Napoleon kindly. :< You must come to see 
me next week, and very often." 

"Oh, yes, I want to, but that will depend 
on my father." 

Then Napoleon turned to Mr. Balcombe. 
"Balcombe, you must bring Misses Jane and 
Betsee next week to see me, eh ? When will 
you ride up to Longwood ? " 

"Indeed, I will bring them soon," responded 
Mr. Balcombe. 

"But where is your mother?" added the 



OFF FOR LONGWOOD 101 

Emperor, casting his eye over the group that 
had gathered to bid him good-bye. 

"She sent her kind regards to you," replied 
Betsy, "but is sorry that she is not well enough 
to come down." 

"Then I will go up to her;" and Napoleon 
impulsively ran upstairs before word could be 
given of his approach. 

When Napoleon entered her room, Mrs. 
Balcombe was lying down. The girls, who 
had followed him, saw him sit down on the 
edge of her bed as he thanked her very 
warmly for all her attention to him. 

"I should have preferred to stay at The 
Briars. I am sorry to go to Longwood," he 
said; and then he handed a little package to 
her, saying, "Now please give this to your 
husband as a mark of my friendship." "This " 
proved to be a beautiful gold snuffbox. 

As he turned to leave the room, Napoleon 
saw the red-eyed Betsy standing near the 
door. 

"Here, my dear," he said, putting some- 
thing in her hand, "you can give this as a 
gage d? amour to petit Las Cases." 

Betsy had no heart now to reply to a jest 



102 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

that ordinarily would have brought out a 
spirited reply. But with the beautiful bon- 
bonniere in her hand, she ran out of the room 
and took a post at a window where she could 
see Napoleon. Her tears continued to flow 
and she found that she could not bear to look 
longer at the departing Emperor. At last she 
had to run to her own room, where, throwing 
herself on a bed, she wept bitterly for a long 
time. 

It was true, as Betsy knew, that Longwood 
was not so very far from The Briars, and 
that it was not likely that she would be 
restrained from going there sometimes. Yet 
in spite of this knowledge the little girl 
realized that she had lost a great deal by the 
departure of the Emperor from her father's 
house. 

Friends, and enemies too, of Napoleon in 
Europe would have been amazed at that 
moment to know that the man who so short a 
time before had been dreaded as the com- 
mander of one of the world's greatest armies, 
was now bewailed by a little girl as a lost 
playmate, for as playmate and friend Betsy 
had certainly come to regard him, and she 



OFF FOR LONGWOOD 103 

regretted his removal to Longwood, not only 
because it was farther away, but because he 
was likely to be hedged in with a greater 
ceremony that might prevent her from seeing 
much of him. 

Mr. Balcombe went with Napoleon to 
Longwood, and when he returned the girls 
asked eagerly how the Emperor liked the new 
residence. 

"He seemed out of spirits. He went soon 
to his own room and shut himself in;" and 
at this report they sympathized with his 
loneliness. 

Betsy and Jane, fortunately, were not to be 
shut off altogether from their friend. Their 
father was purveyor to the Emperor, and this 
meant that he had a general order to visit 
Longwood and could take his daughters with 
him. Thus it happened that hardly a week 
passed without their going there to call, to 
their own great delight as well as to the 
satisfaction of Napoleon, who never tired of 
them. 

Usually their visits were so timed that they 
could breakfast with the Emperor at one, and 
for the most part they found him much the 



104 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

same as he had been at The Briars. After a 
while, however, they could not help noticing 
that he was less cheerful than formerly. 

About a week after his departure, Betsy 
and her mother and sister made their first 
visit to Longwood to call on the Emperor. 

"Ah, there he is," Betsy cried; and looking 
ahead, they saw him seated on the steps of 
the billiard-room, talking to little Tristram 
Montholon. The moment Napoleon caught 
sight of them, he hastened toward them. Sa- 
luting them pleasantly, he kissed Mrs. Bal- 
combe and Jane on each cheek, while he 
pinched Betsy's ear, as he said: "Ah, Mdlle. 
Betsee, etes-vous sage, eh, eh ? " 

Then, with the eagerness of a boy anxious 
to display a new toy, he added, "What do you 
think of the place ? I must show you over it. 
Come, follow me!" 

So the Emperor walked ahead of Mrs. Bal- 
combe and her daughters, leading them first 
to his bedroom. Betsy thought this room 
small and cheerless, though she did not say 
so to Napoleon. 

As she looked about she observed that the 
walls were covered with fluted nankeen, that 



OFF FOR LONGWOOD 105 

on the wall were many family pictures that 
she recognized, while the bed was the well- 
known camp bed with the green silk hangings, 
the bed Napoleon had used in his Marengo and 
Austerlitz campaigns. There, on one side, was 
the silver wash-hand basin and ewer, and on 
the mantelpiece over the bed was a portrait 
of Maria Louisa, so placed as to be the first 
thing to meet Napoleon's eye when he awoke 
in the morning. Off the bedroom was a small 
chamber with a bath that he showed to them. 
A dressing-room, dining-room, billiard and 
drawing room made up the Emperor's own 
special suite. The billiard-room, which 
had been built according to Sir George 
Cockburn's orders, was large and well propor- 
tioned. It was the best apartment in the 
house, and the girls expressed their admira- 
tion for it, although Betsy, when her eye fell 
on the billiard table and balls, thought the 
game a foolish one for men to play. 

"Now to the kitchen!" Napoleon exclaimed, 
at last. "M. Piron will be so pleased. Aha, 
Piron, here is Mees Betsee; you know how 
she loves creams. Send her some and some 
bonbons. See, regardez, mademoiselle, voila 



106 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

un mouton pour mon diner, dont on fait une 
lanterne" pointing to the lean carcass of a 
sheep hanging up in the kitchen, in which 
the French servants had placed a candle 
which shone through. "But I know," he con- 
tinued, "you are dying to see the baby;" and 
the sisters went with him to Madame Montho- 
lon's apartment to see her six-weeks-old girl. 

Napoleon took his little god-daughter in his 
arms. 

"Oh, you will let it fall!" cried Betsy as he 
dandled it clumsily. 

"No, no! See, it will let me do anything 
with it;" and he pinched little Lili's nose and 
chin until she cried. 

'You do not know how to hold a baby," 
protested Betsy. 

" But I ought to know," responded Napoleon 
with a twinkle of amusement in his eye. 
"Often and often I have nursed the King of 
Rome when he was younger than Lili." 

After leaving the baby and Madame Mon- 
tholon, the little girls went with Napoleon to 
the garden outside. 

"It is not like The Briars," the Emperor 
said, shaking his head sadly. 



OFF FOR LONGWOOD 107 

"I should say not;" and Betsy looked from 
the bare surroundings of the house to the 
rugged mountain near by with its scraggly 
vegetation of wild samphire, prickly pears and 
aloes, its iron-covered rocks, with sharp cliffs 
and mysterious caves overshadowing the 
house. 

Napoleon's momentary sadness may have 
come from his casual allusion to his son, the 
little King of Rome, the child whom he was 
never to see again. Those who observed him 
when any allusion was made to his child were 
always sure that Napoleon's heart held great 
fatherly affection. Once when he had been a 
trifle downcast, Dr. O'Meara told him an 
anecdote he had heard about the child. Im- 
mediately Napoleon smiled with great anima- 
tion and his face brightened. At other times 
when the conversation turned on the child, 
he grew perceptibly sadder. 

His love for his own child made Napoleon 
undoubtedly more interested in all children, 
and he was never ashamed, as some men are, 
to show this interest in the children of his 
friends. 

This first visit to Longwood was in every 



108 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

way delightful to the sisters, not only because 
there was much to see that was new to them 
in the arrangement of the house and grounds, 
but because they found the Emperor in one 
of his most boyish moods. 

"Now, ladies," he said, as the time for their 
return approached, "send your horses off. 
They can meet you at Hutsgate, and I will 
take a drive with you, if you will honor my 
jaunting car." 

Hutsgate was the residence of Madame 
Bertrand, where Mrs. Balcombe and her 
daughters intended to call before returning 
to The Briars. 

: 'Yes," answered Betsy after a moment's 
hesitation, "we will drive with you." She was 
not fond of driving, but did not dare to expose 
her timidity to the ridicule of the Emperor. 

Hardly, however, had they started off when 
she felt that her fears were justified. The 
daring Archambaud was their charioteer, and 
he drove three unbroken Cape horses abreast. 

"This is the most dangerous road for driv- 
ing on the island. No wonder they call it the 
Devil's Punchbowl," cried poor Betsy. As 
she spoke, the carriage seemed to be tipping 



OFF FOR LONGWOOD 109 

over the edge of the declivity. Those nearer 
the edge were in mortal terror, and the others 
looked as if they would be crushed against 
the huge rock. 

"You are not frightened, are you, Mees 
Betsee ? " asked Napoleon mischievously. " Of 
course it is a narrow road; 1 only hope the 
horses are not running away. They seem 
rather wild." 

Thankful enough was Betsy to arrive at 
Madame Bertrand's without accident, and 
when she started for home she was more than 
eager to mount her own quiet pony, Tom. 
She was not fond of driving over the danger- 
ous roads, and for a jaunting car she had a 
special dislike. Napoleon, knowing this, could 
not resist the opportunity to tease her. Betsy, 
indeed, was not the only one whom he liked 
to terrify by getting Archambaud to display 
his reckless driving. It seemed, indeed, as if 
his guest, as well as the Emperor, always took 
his life in his hands when driving in the jaunt- 
ing car. 

On a second visit not long after the first, 
when Betsy and Jane arrived at Longwood, 
they found the Emperor firing at a target. 



110 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

He put the pistol in Betsy's hands, saying. 
"Ah, la Petite Tirailleuse, I will form a com- 
pany of sharpshooters and you shall be 
captain." 

A little later he took her to the billiard- 
room and showed her the billiard table. 

"It is a silly game for men," she said in 
her positive way, "too much like marbles. I 
wouldn't play it." 

"Oh, do try," urged the Emperor; but wil- 
ful Betsy replied only by aiming the ball at 
his fingers, as he rested his hand on the board. 

Later, however, the sisters learned to play 
the game, and at the billiard table they passed 
many an hour. 

Napoleon himself taught Betsy how to 
handle a cue, but, when tired of the lesson, 
she would often aim at his fingers, and she 
was always delighted when a well-directed 
shot made him cry out. 

The visits of Betsy and her sisters gave 
pleasure to the fallen great man; still, as time 
went on, they could not help noticing that he 
was less and less buoyant. In their presence 
he tried to lay aside his troubles, and con- 
tinued unfailingly kind. 



OFF FOR LONGWOOD 111 

He and the new Governor, Sir Hudson Lowe, 
were always at swords' points, and this wore 
on his spirits. Moreover, the health of Napo- 
leon was impaired, and as he realized this he 
grew more and more gloomy. 

Sir Hudson Lowe was very particular that 
the passes issued for visitors should be used 
only as they had been made out. 

One day Betsy went to Longwood with a 
pass that prescribed a visit to General Ber- 
trand. But when Betsy, wandering about, 
caught sight of Napoleon in the billiard- 
room, she could not resist the temptation of 
playing a game with him. Her father vainly 
tried to remonstrate with her. Far from listen- 
ing to him, she bounded off. 

Instead of playing billiards, however, Na- 
poleon asked her to read to him from a book 
that he had lately received from England. It 
was by Dr. Warden, surgeon of the Northum- 
berland, describing in English Napoleon's voy- 
age to St. Helena. Napoleon had not made 
great headway in reading English, and Betsy 
went through several chapters with him, turn- 
ing them into her French that he might better 
understand. 



112 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

Napoleon listened attentively to her reading. 
"Dr. Warden's word is a very true one," he 
said. 

Betsy finished her stay at Longwood this day 
by remaining awhile with Madame Bertrand. 

The news of Betsy's visit to Napoleon with- 
out the requisite permission reached the Gov- 
ernor's ears; and Mr. Balcombe was severely 
reproved. In fact, he nearly lost his position. 
The Governor from the first insisted that Mr. 
Balcombe always acted in the interest of Na- 
poleon, and hence, as he viewed it in his 
narrow-mindedness, against the interests of 
the English Government. Thus we can see that 
Napoleon's young neighbor was wrong in doing 
things that drew on her father the Governor's 
reproof. 

"My dears," said Mr. Balcombe one morn- 
ing, "I am going to Longwood to-morrow, 
and the Emperor has expressly asked me to 
bring you. He has something curious to show 
you." 

"What can it be?" the girls asked each 
other. This special invitation, promising a 
special pleasure, made them eager to start 
when the next morning came. 



OFF FOR LONGWOOD 113 

When they reached Longwood with their 
father they found Napoleon examining a 
machine whose use they could guess. 

" Come, come, young ladies," the great man 
cried, when he caught sight of them, "come 
see me make ice. You have not been here for 
a long time, Mees Betsy, what is the matter ? " 

"I have been ill, a sunstroke." 

"Oh, I am sorry! What foolish thing did 
you do?" 

"Oh, Jane and I walked with Captain M. 
to call on Mrs. Wilks. We went over the 
mountain, two thousand feet, and also across 
Francis Plain, and down into the valley, up 
the mountain ridges. 

Napoleon expressed his astonishment at the 
extent of their walk. 

'Yes, we were nearly dead when we reached 
Plantation House, but the Lady Governess and 
her daughter there were so kind, and at noon 
we went to Fairyland." 

When Betsy had told her story, Napoleon 
explained the air-pumps and the process of 
ice-making. He was evidently proud of his 
own proficiency. 

"Now, Mr. Balcombe, get an elementary 



114 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

chemistry for Miss Betsy and make her study 
every day, and the good O'Meara shall be her 
examiner." 

While he talked Napoleon was watching the 
machine. 

"Do try my ice," he exclaimed at last, 
when he had a cupful. 

"Here, Mees Betsee, take this!" and he put 
a large piece in her mouth. 

"Oh, Mees Betsee, why make such faces ? " 

This was the first ice that had ever been seen 
on the island, and those who had never been 
off St. Helena were naturally amazed when it 
was shown to them. 

"It can't be frozen water," exclaimed Miss 
de F., a young St. Helena lady who had ac- 
companied the Balcombes on this visit to 
Longwood; and she had to hold a piece in 
her hand before she believed it. Then she 
gave a little scream. The glassy substance was 
so cold at first that she was ready to drop it. 
A moment later when it began to melt and 
the water streamed down her fingers, she 
realized that she had actually seen a very 
strange thing, the turning of water into ice 
by artificial means. 



OFF FOR LONGWOOD 115 

Betsy long remembered the day when she 
had first seen the wonderful ice machine, and 
perhaps her remembrance of it was intensified 
because on that same morning Napoleon per- 
mitted her to cut from his coat an embroidered 
bugle, and the coat was the one he had worn 
at Waterloo. Napoleon himself was as pleased 
as a child with the ice machine, and to more 
than one person expressed his regret that he 
had not had it in Egypt, where its use would 
have saved the lives of many suffering soldiers. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE GOVERNOR'S RULES 

AFTER Napoleon had been at St. Helena 
a few months, newspapers from Eng- 
land began to arrive with narratives of 
many of the happenings at The Briars. 

One journal contained a letter from the 
Marquis de Montchenu, describing all the 
romping games at The Briars, such as the 
game of blindman's buff, the sword scare, 
and other things in which the children had 
taken part. 

Special comments were made on the man- 
ners of Betsy, and the writer said, "She is the 
wildest little girl I have ever met; she seems 
folle." This letter had been translated into 
French and German journals, so that Betsy 
Balcombe's name was now widely known. 

Mr. Balcombe was greatly enraged by this 
letter, and wished to call the Marquis to 
account for his ill nature, but Mrs. Balcombe 



THE GOVERNOR'S RULES 117 

persuaded him to desist from extreme meas- 
ures, and in the end the Marquis himself 
made an apology. 

Napoleon found some amusement in Betsy's 
fierce anger against the critical French- 
man. One day Dr. O'Meara called at The 
Briars, on the way to St. James Valley, 
with a message from Napoleon to tell Betsy 
how she could revenge herself on the tale- 
bearer. 

The Marquis, a noble of the old school, was 
in the habit of wearing an elaborate wig with 
a long cue. 

"Mees Betsy, if you will burn off the cue 
with caustic, I will reward you with the pret- 
tiest fan in Solomon's shop, if you will send 
the pigtail to me," suggested Napoleon to 
Betsy as a plan of revenge. 

"Eh, bien" said the Emperor, when next 
he saw Betsy, "Mdlle. Betsy, as tu obei mes 
ordres et gagne Veventail ?" [" Have you obeyed 
my orders and won the fan ? "] 

"Oh, sire, how I wanted to do it, but my 
brother would not let me!" 

"Ah, Mees Betsy," and Napoleon pinched 
her ear, "tu commences a etre sage. Here, 



118 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

O'Meara, have you brought the fan I prom- 
ised Miss Betsy?" 

"No, sire, there were none pretty enough 
for her in Solomon's shop." 

Betsy's face grew serious. 

"Do not look sad," expostulated Napoleon. 

'You shall have something prettier than a 

fan;" and Betsy, comprehending, wondered 

what the present would be that he evidently 

intended to give her. 

In a few days a package came to The 
Briars, addressed to Betsy. Opening it, she 
saw a ring of brilliants, forming the letter N, 
surmounted by a small eagle. 

This was a wonderful gift for a little girl, 
and at first she could hardly believe that it 
was for her. Later she found there was no 
mistake. It was really hers, and she kept it 
always. 

Although Betsy was not permitted to carry 
out Napoleon's proposed plan of revenge on 
the tale-telling Marquis, she expressed her 
feelings in a way of her own by relating to 
Napoleon an anecdote about him. 

"The Marquis," she said, "is extremely 
fond of cauliflower, a vegetable that is very 



THE GOVERNOR'S RULES 119 

hard to get here on the island. Well, the 
other day, he dined with us and we had the 
most delicious cauliflower. Somehow he didn't 
see it until it was being removed and then he 
cried to his aide-de-camp, who had neglected 
to point it out, 'Bete, pourquoi-ne m'a tu pas 
dit qu'il-y-avait des choux fleurs ? ' [' Idiot, why 
didn't you tell me that there was cauliflower ? '] 
Now, wasn't he greedy?" asked Betsy, glad 
enough to have a story to tell that placed the 
Marquis at a disadvantage. 

The Marquis de Montchenu, for whom 
Betsy had professed this dislike, was one of 
the three Commissioners sent by the Allied 
Powers to keep watch on Napoleon. The other 
two were the Baron Sturmer, representing 
Austria, and Count Balmain, sent by Russia. 
While England provided the prison and jailer 
for Napoleon, these Commissioners were asked 
to observe everything and report to their re- 
spective countries. France and Austria had 
ordered their Commissioners to see Napoleon 
in their official capacity every day in order to 
assure themselves that he was actually alive. 
Baron Balmain was instructed by Russia 
neither to seek nor avoid an occasion to see 



120 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

him. To describe the vain efforts of the French 
and Austrian Commissioners to see Napoleon 
would make an entertaining story. Napoleon's 
orders to his household were not to admit 
any one presenting a pass from the British 
authorities. But as Sir Hudson Lowe would 
permit no one to go to Longwood without a 
pass from him. those who wished to see Na- 
poleon were in a dilemma. 

Things were not bettered when Napoleon 
wrote Sir Hudson Lowe, desiring him not to 
present any one to him, as in future he would 
receive no visitors. He acted as if he thought 
it his duty to shut himself up, in order that 
public opinion might be turned against the 
narrow-mindedness of the Governor. After 
this few of the people of St. Helena tried to 
call on him. From delicacy of feeling, or 
because they feared his anger, civilians and 
military residents avoided Longwood. Only 
the two Commissioners and the resident Eng- 
lish officer made an effort to see him daily, 
and their efforts, merely to get a glance at him 
through window or door, were most absurd. 
The officer sometimes saw him, but the Com- 
missioners never had the privilege. The Mar- 



THE GOVERNOR'S RULES 121 

quis de Montchenu beheld him at last only 
when he lay dead. Baron Sturmer and Baron 
Balmain left St. Helena while Napoleon was 
still alive without having met him. 

As to Betsy Balcombe, though she had her 
own opinion, on account of her father's posi- 
tion she could not express herself strongly 
about Sir Hudson Lowe. 

"Has any one run away with a favorite 
robe de bal, or is the pet black nurse, old 
Sarah, dead?" asked Napoleon one day, de- 
tecting a serious look on Betsy's face. "What 
can have occurred?" 

Betsy's face did not brighten. 

"I am feeling very sad," she said, "because 
Mrs. Wilks,our kind Lady-Governess, has gone 
away. Every one was at the boat to see her 
go, and at the castle. It was like a funeral, 
no one with a dry eye, and all saying, 'God 
bless you, and a safe and happy voyage home.' ' 

Betsy paused for a moment, then continued : 
"Then they all followed the Governor and 
his family to the barge that was to take them 
to Havana, and groups of grief-stricken 
ladies wandered under the peepul trees of 
Sisters' Walk, watching the vessel." 



122 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

"Did you cry too?" asked Napoleon. 

"Indeed I did." 

"I regret," added Napoleon, "that I had 
not known the Lady- Governess; she must have 
been so amiable." 

Napoleon, as well as Betsy, probably realized 
that but for his coming the people of St. 
Helena might have retained their popular Gov- 
ernor, Mark Wilks. Before the arrival of Na- 
poleon, the Governor of St. Helena was paid 
by the East India Company, though appointed 
by the Crown; but with so important a per- 
sonage as Napoleon held there in captivity, 
it seemed wisest that full responsibility for 
him should be laid on the English Govern- 
ment. It was therefore decided, as we have 
before seen, that as soon as possible a Gov- 
ernor of higher rank should be sent out in 
place of Governor Wilks. The change at this 
time seemed unfortunate for the people of St. 
Helena. In Governor Wilks they had found an 
officer who had their interests more at heart 
than any preceding Governor. Could he have 
been Napoleon's custodian, the Emperor's 
exile would have been very much happier 
than it was with Sir Hudson Lowe in charge. 



THE GOVERNOR'S RULES 123 

Betsy, like all who came in contact with 
Napoleon, sympathized deeply with his an- 
noyance at the restrictions imposed on him 
by Sir Hudson Lowe. The story of the dis- 
cussion between Napoleon's friends and the 
supporters of the Governor would be a long 
one to tell, but the fact remains, when all is 
said in Sir Hudson Lowe's favor, that he was 
far too narrow-minded for the important posi- 
tion that he held. Sir Hudson Lowe was a 
brave man and had served honorably in many 
wars, but the responsibility of guarding the 
fallen Emperor was too great for him, and his 
behavior toward the exile was in every way 
unfortunate. 

Napoleon had been on the island just six 
months when Sir Hudson Lowe arrived. From 
the first he seemed possessed by the idea that 
Napoleon was constantly watching for some 
chance to escape. To those nearest Napoleon 
at St. Helena, the Governor's fears that he 
might escape seemed absurd. From the island 
posts approaching ships were seen twenty-four 
leagues off. Two ships of war were always 
cruising to windward and leeward. Only 
guard-boats were allowed out at night. All 



124 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

fishing boats were numbered and had to anchor 
every evening at sunset under the supervision 
of a lieutenant of the navy. No foreign vessels 
were permitted to anchor unless under great 
distress, and then no one from them could 
land until an officer and a party from the 
British ships went on board to take charge 
while they stayed. If he had cared to try 
flight, Napoleon could hardly have made his 
escape. 

In the very beginning, when Lord Bathurst 
issued instructions for the custody of Napoleon, 
he expressed the earnest desire of the Prince 
Regent that no greater personal restraint might 
be employed than was necessary to make sure 
that Napoleon was securely held on the island. 

Sir Hudson Lowe, however, in carrying out 
the instructions of the British Government, in- 
terpreted them as meaning that he should have 
constant information about all Napoleon's 
doings. To accomplish this was, of course, 
impossible, and his vain efforts made him the 
laughing-stock of the English as well as the 
French. In his very first interview with Na- 
poleon the new Governor managed to offend 
him seriously, and Napoleon after this was so 



THE GOVERNOR'S RULES 125 

unwilling to see him that the two met only 
five times more during the five years that in- 
tervened until Napoleon's death; and these 
five interviews were all within the first three 
months after Sir Hudson. Lowe's arrival. 

Under the most favorable conditions Sir 
Hudson Lowe could hardly have been popular 
with the islanders themselves. Governor Wilks, 
his predecessor, had been unusually loved, and 
his charming wife and daughter had a firm 
hold on the affections of all the people of St. 
Helena. Betsy, as we have seen, was extremely 
fond of Mrs. Wilks, whom she called the 
"Lady-Governess," and she had a young girl's 
admiration for the beautiful Miss Wilks, whose 
praises she continually sang to Napoleon. 
One day, not long before Miss Wilks left the 
island, Napoleon showed Betsy a portrait that 
General Gorgaud had drawn from memory 
of Miss Wilks, saying, "You think Miss Wilks 
beautiful. Gorgaud thinks so too, and this is 
his portrait from memory." 

"Ah," replied Betsy, gazing at the portrait, 
"she is far more beautiful; and she is so clever 
and amiable." 

:< You are certainly enthusiastic, and I quite 



126 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

long to see her," responded Napoleon, evi- 
dently appreciative of Betsy's enthusiasm for 
her friend. 

During the first months of Napoleon's exile, 
Colonel Wilks continued to act as Governor, 
but the direct custody of Napoleon was the 
business of Sir George Cockburn, who had 
brought the illustrious prisoner on the Nor- 
thumberland from England. Not long after 
Napoleon went to Longwood an amusing in- 
cident happened, resulting from the panic of 
Captain Poppleton, the orderly officer whose 
duty it was to guard Napoleon on his rides. 

The two sisters were sitting at dinner, with 
their father and Admiral Cockburn. 

"See," cried Betsy to Jane, "here comes 
Captain Poppleton, looking as if he had lost 
his wits. Why is he alone ? Don't you re- 
member that he set out with the Emperor 
and Generals Bertrand, Montholon, and Gor- 
gaud?" 

"But you wouldn't expect them all to march 
in, when we have company, too," whispered 
Jane, looking toward the end of the table 
where her father was talking with his especial 
guest, the Admiral, Sir George Cockburn. 



THE GOVERNOR'S RULES 127 

Before the girls could speculate further, 
Captain Poppleton broke out excitedly: 

"Oh, sir, I have lost the Emperor." 

All looked up, but the Admiral, whom 
Captain Poppleton addressed, did not change 
expression as the officer continued: 

"We were riding along one of the paths on 
the side of the mountain, when suddenly the 
Emperor turned short around to the left and 
almost flew up the mountain. None of the 
generals accompanied him. I started, but I 
could not follow. My horse woud not take 
the steep ascent. So I came back to you. If 
there is a plot - 

"Nonsense!" cried the Admiral, and his 
tone was echoed by Mr. Balcombe. It was 
natural that Captain Poppleton should feel 
alarm at the sudden disappearance. But the 
Admiral was made of sterner stuff. "Go back 
to Longwood," he said quietly to the officer. 
"You will find Napoleon there." 

This proved to be the case, for when he 
reached Longwood the Emperor was at din- 
ner, and he laughed at poor Captain Poppleton 
for his fears. 

If Betsy had ventured to express herself 



128 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

regarding the trouble between Sir Hudson 
Lowe and the Emperor in this, she certainly 
would not have favored the former. 

"What do you really think," she asked her 
father one day, "about this quarrel between 
the Governor and the Emperor?" 

Mr. Balcombe very properly, as an officer 
of the Government, was not inclined to give 
a direct reply. But Betsy understood him, 
when he said: 

"Their disputes are generally on subjects 
so trivial that they hardly seem worth quar- 
relling about." 

But she realized that to Napoleon these 
disputes were not trivial when she came upon 
him one day reading an English book. Look- 
ing at it, as he held it before her, she saw 
that it was a copy of "./Esop's Fables," a book 
that in a translation children often use to 
improve their knowledge of French. 

The page was open at "The Sick Lion." 
This is the famous account of the lion that, 
when lying sick, receives visits from many 
other animals who, instead of sympathizing, 
exult over his downfall. The lion makes no 
complaint until a donkey kicks him in the 



THE GOVERNOR'S RULES 129 

face. "I could have borne anything but this," 
he said. 

As Betsy looked at the open page, Napoleon, 
pointing to the woodcut, said, "It is myself 
and your Governor." His expression showed 
the depth of his feeling on the subject. 

In little ways Betsy was disappointed by 
the regulations made for Napoleon by Sir 
Hudson Lowe. She was exceedingly anxious, 
for example, that Napoleon should see a huge 
boa constrictor that a captain of an incoming 
vessel had brought to the island. 

"It is a most wonderful creature," she said, 
as she described it to the Emperor. "They 
put a live goat into its cage, and I really 
believe that it swallowed it whole, for I could 
see the poor thing's horns poking almost 
through the boa constrictor's skin." 

The Emperor smiled as Betsy told her tale. 

'Your boa constrictor sounds like the Marquis 

de Montchenu, or, rather, the latter, from the 

amount of food I have heard he consumes, 

must resemble a boa constrictor." 

"He really does," responded Betsy. "Oh, 
I wish you could see him not the Marquis, 
but the boa constrictor." 



130 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

"I should like to see it; I will ask them to 
have it brought here to me." 

As Betsy herself also desired this, she was 
naturally disappointed when those in authority 
decided that the boa constrictor could not be 
shown to Napoleon. 

Napoleon was not the only one on the 
island affected by the many regulations made 
for his safety in the matter of sentries. The 
question of passes, always troublesome to 
visitors, and the fact that after the sunset gun 
had been fired no one could pass the sentries 
without giving the countersign, were annoy- 
ances to all on the island. Once Betsy herself 
had an experience that was far from agreeable, 
although she was not the only one to suffer, 
as the incident concerned many others. 

As might be supposed, picnics were a fa- 
vorite form of diversion with the people of 
St. Helena, and they were particularly delight- 
ful when, as usually happened, young and old 
took part in them. One day there was a large 
picnic near the celebrated Friar's Valley. The 
Balcombes and all their friends were to go 
to it. 

The day proved pleasant fortunately, for 



THE GOVERNOR'S RULES 131 

the journey was difficult. After amusing them- 
selves for hours, the party was at last sur- 
prised to hear the sunset gun from Ladder 
Hill. They found that none of the party had 
the countersign for the night, and they knew 
that if they ventured forth without it they 
would be made prisoners. This was one of 
the many strict rules made by the Governor 
to prevent the mishap of helpers coming to 
Napoleon after dark. 

At last some of them decided that it was 
better to make an effort to reach home rather 
than spend the night outdoors. Betsy and her 
parents were among those who ventured to 
go toward home. 

It was a starlight night, but the road was 
bad. Mr. Balcombe at last hailed a light. 

" Who goes there ? " cried the sentry. 

"A friend." 

"Advance, friend, and give the counter- 
sign." 

Now this was just what none of the party 
could do, and as protests were useless, they all 
had to spend the night in the guard-room, 
where they were half eaten by fleas, mosqui- 
toes, and other insects. 



Those who had stayed on the picnic grounds 
laughed well at the more venturous who had 
gone ahead. Napoleon, when he heard the 
story, was highly diverted, pleased to have so 
good a chance to blame the Government. 



CHAPTER IX 

ALL KINDS OF FUN 

ANY one who had looked in on the sisters 
one day would have seen that they were 
greatly excited. Just at this time they 
were visiting Madame Bertrand, and during 
their stay a ball was to be given. 

Plans that promised much pleasure for them 
had been made. They were to dine with the 
Emperor, and then go on to Deadwood in his 
carriage. 

"Don't jerk so, please," cried Betsy, while 
the maid was arranging her hair. 

"But you must have this Chinese coiffure, 
if you are going to the ball. You would not 
wish to go looking like a little girl." 

" Oh, no," responded Betsy faintly, inwardly 
rebellious, as her hair was jerked and strained 
on top of her head. She was willing to bear 
pain for the sake of appearing well, but when 
she looked in the glass she thought that she 



134 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

had never seen anything so hideous as the 
coiffure that the maid had arranged with such 
care. She no longer desired to appear like a 
young lady. Her hair had been drawn back 
so tight that her eyes were fairly starting from 
the socket. Had there been time she would 
have pulled the coiffure down, and indeed she 
was ready to cry with vexation, but she did 
not really dare to disarrange it now, for she 
dreaded the Emperor's ridicule. How he 
would laugh at the funny Chinese coiffure! 
In a few minutes she was to appear before 
him. 

To her great surprise, when she and her 
sister entered the dining-room, the Emperor 
spared her, saying only: 

"Mees Betsy, this is the only time I have 
ever seen you look really neat; but I don't 
like your frock. What is the matter ? " 

Poor Betsy! She was almost upset by the 
Emperor's tone. She looked at him closely, 
and decided that he meant just what he said. 
She had thought her little frock so pretty. 
Now, what could be the matter with it ? 

The Emperor understood her look of in- 
quiry and answered in words. 



ALL KINDS OF FUN 135 

"It is too short," he said. 'You must have 
it made long before the ball.'* 

He was certainly in earnest, and the young 
girl was really troubled. "But I cannot do 
anything to it," she protested; "there is not 
time." 

"Oh, but no one will wish to dance with 
you." 

"It isn't as bad as that!" 

"But it is." 

Betsy knew that Napoleon meant what he 
said. He knew more about balls and ball- 
gowns than any young girl on the island. 
Indeed, if his criticism had not been based on 
his knowledge of the customs of the modish 
world, Betsy would still have been inclined 
to trust to his judgment; for though at times 
she seemed to trifle with his wishes, in her 
heart she was always ready to please him. 

So now, as sensitive as any more conven- 
tional girl to the impression she might make 
at a ball, Betsy ran off to find Josephine, the 
maid. 

Josephine shook her head when Betsy first 
told her tale of woe, but at last she consented 
to remedy the defect by lengthening the frock. 



136 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

There was but one thing to do, and conse- 
quently some of the tucks were let down. 

Neither Betsy nor the maid was proud of 
the result of their efforts. The effect was not 
good, and Betsy had to take what consolation 
she could from the fact that she had obeyed 
Napoleon. 

A dinner with the Emperor was always de- 
lightful to Betsy and Jane, and this one was 
no exception. When it was over the Emperor 
rose abruptly and all went with him to the 
drawing-room. There the delectable coffee 
for which Le Page was famous was brought 
in, and Betsy, feeling more grown up than 
ever, drank a cup into which, disdaining tongs, 
she dropped a lump of sugar. 

Soon the carriage was announced, and all 
set out, Madame Bertrand ahead, carrying 
her baby, next little Arthur, then Mrs. Bal- 
combe, and finally Betsy and Jane and 
General Gorgaud. 

When the signal was given, the spirited 
Cape steeds tore away, dashing from side to 
side, while Madame Bertrand screamed loudly 
to Archambaud to stop, though without avail, 
until the carriage ran into a gumwood tree. 



ALL KINDS OF FUN 137 

Except for the shaking up and the fright, 
none of the party was injured, and when the 
door was opened all scrambled hastily out. 
Nothing would induce them to intrust them- 
selves again to the carriage and the reckless 
Archambaud, and though the rain was falling 
heavily they preferred to walk over the muddy 
road to Dead wood. They had nearly a mile 
to go, and it was especially hard for Madame 
Bertrand, whose baby would not be carried. 

Betsy, though she knew that she herself 
probably looked equally absurd, could not help 
laughing when she saw Madame Bertrand ar- 
rayed in one of Mrs. Balcombe's dresses, half 
a yard too short and small in every way, which 
she had to borrow while her own clothes were 
drying. 

But the ball itself was pleasant and all felt 
repaid for going, even though they had to 
walk home in the mist. 

The next morning, as ever, Betsy was the 
victim of Napoleon's raillery. 

" So you had a good time last evening, Mees 
Betsy. I hear you danced very well and looked 
well, and might have been Baroness Stunner's 
younger sister, you looked so much like her." 



138 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

This compliment pleased Betsy mightily, as 
doubtless Napoleon realized, for the little 
English girl thought Baroness Sturmer, wife 
of the Austrian Commissioner, the prettiest 
woman she had ever seen. 

Not long after breakfast the visitors from 
The Briars and several from Longwood went 
to the town and to the Newcastle in the bay, 
on board of which Sir Pultney and Lady 
Malcom were to give a breakfast in honor 
of Lord Amherst. 

When next the sisters visited Longwood, 
"Ah, Mees Betsee," cried Napoleon, "I have 
heard great stories of you. You locked up 
little Miss P. the other day, while the other 
ladies were being shipped over the side of the 
frigate to return to shore. When they missed 
her Captain G. had to go back to rescue 
her." 

As Betsy did not deny this charge, Napo- 
leon, turning to her father, exclaimed : 

"Balcombe, you must set her a task." 

"Indeed I must," responded Betsy's father 
gravely. 

"But I have been punished enough," pro- 
tested Betsy. "Lady Lowe scolded me, too, 



ALL KINDS OF FUN 139 

and desired me to use my reason and not to 
be childish. I wondered at her lack of per- 
ception in giving me credit for what I never 
possessed. But I did admire Lord Amherst," 
she added, a few minutes later. 

"He must be a very fascinating man," 
responded Napoleon, "so to have impressed 
your youthful fancy." 

The kindness that Madame Montholon 
showed Betsy in allowing her maid to arrange 
the young girl's hair in a style suitable for a 
ball, an undoubted kindness in spite of the 
discomfort it produced, was in a line with 
many other things that she and Madame Ber- 
trand did for the Balcombe girls. Madame 
Bertrand was particularly fond of Betsy and 
often invited her to her house. She advised 
her about her studies and, to a certain extent, 
supervised some of them. Madame Bertrand 
had many accomplishments, some of which 
she tried to impart to Betsy. Singing was one 
of them, and under her instruction Betsy made 
considerable progress. Napoleon sometimes 
listened to their little concerts in the drawing- 
room at Longwood. One evening when Betsy 
was to sing a part from "Les Styriens," the 



140 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

piano was so out of tune that Napoleon was 
greatly distressed. He at once sent for Mr. 
Guiness, the bandmaster of the General Kid, 
then in St. James's Harbor, the only man at 
hand who could properly tune it, and was 
naturally annoyed when the Governor expressed 
his unwillingness to have Mr. Guiness come. 

Of all those who accompanied Napoleon to 
St. Helena, Madame Bertrand had made, 
perhaps, the greatest sacrifices. She was born 
in Martinique and was partly of Irish descent, 
through her father, whose name was Dillon. 
In spite of her warm devotion to Napoleon, 
she almost went out of her mind when she 
heard that he was doomed to imprisonment 
in St. Helena and that her husband would 
follow him. Later, however, she became re- 
signed and did not try to dissuade her husband 
from accompanying the fallen Emperor. Un- 
doubtedly she thought of her children and all 
that they would lose in living so far from 
France, but when they were at last in their 
new home she bore inconveniences patiently 
and tried in every way to make life pleasant 
for those around her. 

"Come," said Napoleon one day when 



ALL KINDS OF FUN 141 

Betsy was wandering around the Longwood 
grounds, "come, and I will show you some 
pretty toys." 

Following the Emperor to the billiard-room, 
she saw upon the table some gorgeously carved 
chessmen sent to him by Mr. Elphinstone. 
Each piece was perfect. The castles, sur- 
mounting lifelike elephants, were filled with 
warriors discharging arrows. The knights, 
cased in armor, were on beautifully capari- 
soned horses. The mitred bishops were in 
flowing robes, and the pawns each represented 
a man of a different nation. The carving was 
wonderful. Such work had never before left 
China, and Betsy saw that Napoleon was as 
pleased as a child with a new plaything. 

"I have just finished a game of chess with 
Lady Malcom," he said, "and she has beaten 
me because I paid more attention to the men 
than the game." 

Besides the chessmen Mr. Elphinstone had 
sent workboxes and card counters with the 
various tradespeople of China minutely carved 
on them. 

Betsy's interest in these beautiful things was 
increased by hearing how Mr. Elphinstone 



142 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

happened to think of sending gifts to Napoleon. 
He wished to show his gratitude for Napoleon's 
kindness to his brother, severely wounded on 
the field of Waterloo. Napoleon, it seems, per- 
ceiving the wounded man and hearing that 
he was faint from loss of blood, sent to him a 
goblet of wine from his own canteen. 

"The chessmen are too pretty for St. 
Helena," said Napoleon; "I must send them 
to the King of Rome." 

Among Mr. Elphinstone's presents, Napo- 
leon showed Betsy a superb ivory tea-chest, 
which when opened showed a perfect model 
of the city of Canton. Beneath it were pack- 
ages of fine tea, done up in fantastic shapes. 

"Ah," said Napoleon, turning to Betsy, 
"this reminds me that when I was Emperor 
I did not permit any tea in my dominion, 
except that grown in Switzerland. No one 
could tell the difference from the Chinese tea. 
I also cultivated the beet-root to make sugar, 
instead of depending on foreign goods." 

Napoleon was probably no less pleased with 
the chessmen because each piece had a small 
eagle carved on it. When Sir Hudson Lowe 
heard of the eagles he regretted that they had 



ALL KINDS OF FUN 143 

escaped his notice, and that he had given 
permission for the gifts to be received at 
Longwood. 

Among the Emperor's treasures were many 
rare coins and seals which he often permitted 
his little neighbor to handle and examine. 
Yet even while she appreciated this special 
privilege, Betsy could not let her sense of 
obligation entirely suppress her love of mis- 
chief. 

Once, for instance, when Betsy approached 
a table at which Napoleon was seated, the 
little girl, unperceived by him, saw that he 
was in the act of sealing a letter with one of 
his precious seals. The temptation was too 
strong to resist, and she surprised Napoleon 
by joggling his arm. This sudden movement 
caused a drop of hot sealing wax to fall on 
his hand, and as a blister was the result, the 
pain for the moment must have been extreme. 
Nevertheless, Napoleon said hardly a word of 
reproof, and his patience was so remarkable 
that Betsy immediately apologized for her 
mischief. 

Yet it was not unusual for Napoleon to 
show patience when teased. In all his sports 



144 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

with the children, even when they took liber- 
ties that their parents would have disapproved, 
Betsy never saw him show any temper. He 
never fell back on his rank or age, but always 
professed to be one of themselves, a good 
comrade, claiming only for his own part the 
right to tease them when he chose. 

What wonder that Las Cases, the dignified 
Chamberlain, sometimes stood aghast at the 
merry pranks shared by his illustrious master 
and his young friends; but even with the eyes 
of the disapproving Las Cases upon her, 
Betsy always enjoyed her visits to Longwood. 
Often some pleasant surprise awaited her on 
her arrival there. 

Napoleon was interested in the various 
legends of St. Helena, and these legends are 
very numerous. Nearly every rock and valley 
and bit of water has some story connected with 
it. The Friar's Valley, for example, takes its 
name from a huge rock fashioned by nature 
into the figure of a monk with his cowl thrown 
back, wearing a flowing robe and a rosary. 
Immediately around are sterile rocks, some 
many hundred feet high, some with aloes 
growing from the fissures. 



ALL KINDS OF FUN 145 

Napoleon sometimes rode into this valley, 
and one day he turned to Betsy: 

"Mees Betsee, have you ever seen 'Will-o'- 
the-Wisp' that they say lights the friar's 
lantern ? " 

" Oh, yes ; my mother used to send me over 
there for purer air, and my old nurse had a 
cottage overlooking the vale. She was teach- 
ing me the alphabet, and when I did not 
arrange my letters properly she would threaten 
me with the friar." 

The story, as Betsy had often heard it, was 
that the friar had been a good Franciscan 
monk, but he fell in love with a girl in a 
mountain cottage, whom he met while she was 
tending goats. She asked him to help her find 
something that she had lost, and thus at- 
tracted his attention. Later he made love to 
her and she promised to marry him if he 
would give up his faith. So the man broke 
his vows to the Church; but, when he was to 
be married, as he was clasping the bride's 
hand, there was a fearful crash: the chapel 
disappeared and with it all those who were 
taking part in the unholy wedding. 

"Have you noticed," asked Betsy of Na- 



146 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

poleon, coming on him when out riding, 
"those three queer sugar-loaf rocks that they 
call * Lot's Wife and Daughters'?" 

"Yes," responded Napoleon, "I have seen 
them." 

"Well," persisted Betsy, "do you know the 
story about them ? " 

"No, I do not." 

"Then I must tell you. More than fifty 
years ago there were two slaves on the island 
who hated to work and to obey their masters, 
so they hid themselves in a cave, halfway up 
the cliff on the top of which we now see 
Lot's wife. Every night they used to go down 
and steal whatever they could lay their hands 
on. For a long time people could not find 
out where they lived, but at last they were 
tracked to their cave. No one could reach 
them, however, because they rolled stones 
down toward all who tried to climb up the 
cliff." 

Napoleon listened attentively, and Betsy 
continued : 

"At last it was thought necessary to send 
a party of soldiers to fire on them, if they 
refused to surrender, but before this was done 



ALL KINDS OF FUN 147 

one of the besiegers managed to climb the 
cliff on the other side. He reached a point 
opposite the cave and higher up, so that he 
could roll down stones toward the slaves. 
When one of these wretched creatures was 
standing on the edge of the cliff he was 
killed by one of the rocks rolled from above, 
and the other who was with him was severely 
injured; and now," concluded Betsy solemnly, 
"if you go there at the right time, the islanders 
say that you will see the murdered slave rush- 
ing around at night just as he used to when 
alive." 

Napoleon, after hearing Betsy's legend, 
said: "When I ride that way again I shall cer- 
tainly look at the sugar-loaf mountain with 
much greater interest than ever before." 

Undoubtedly these various legends, which 
Betsy had heard from her earliest childhood, 
tended to make her superstitious. Napoleon 
soon found that she was easily frightened, and 
took advantage of this fact sometimes to tease 
her unmercifully. When he arrived at The 
Briars, one of Betsy's little brothers had as 
tutor an elderly man named Huff. The coming 
of Napoleon had a strange effect on the tutor's 



148 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

brain. Among other delusions, he believed 
that it was to fall on him to free the Emperor 
from his imprisonment and restore him to his 
throne again. Old Huff, as they called him, 
talked constantly on this subject and no one 
could reason with him. It was evident that 
the poor fellow was mad, but before it was 
decided to put him under guardianship he 
found a chance to kill himself, although he 
was closely watched. According to custom, he 
was buried at a spot where three crossroads 
meet. This happened to be a place near The 
Briars, and, in consequence, poor Betsy was 
far from happy. Napoleon, aware of her fears, 
would call out, just before she said good night 
to the household, "Mees Betsee, ole Huff, 
ole Huff." 

Poor Betsy! She was indeed unhappy, and 
after these words lay long awake at night, 
and in the end often scrambled into her 
mother's room and stayed there until morning. 

One evening, when Betsy and her mother 
and her sister Jane were sitting on the cottage 
porch enjoying the refreshing evening breeze, 
a strange noise made Betsy turn her head, 
and in an instant she had risen to her feet 




S S 

H o 



ALL KINDS OF FUN 149 

with a loud scream. In front of them now 
walked a figure dressed in white, not a very 
terrifying sight, except to one of Betsy's 
nervous temperament. 

Mrs. Balcombe at once understood the sit- 
uation, for at the moment of the figure's ap- 
pearance she had heard a smothered laugh 
that she recognized as Napoleon's. Advanc- 
ing to the white figure, she turned back the 
covering, and underneath appeared the black 
face of a little slave, grinning from ear to ear. 

"What brought you here?" asked Mrs. 
Balcombe sternly. 

"To frighten Miss Betsy;" and the black 
girl pointed toward Napoleon, who had now 
come forward to see what effect his trick had 
had upon his young neighbor. 

This little ghost scene had a wider effect 
than Napoleon intended, for it put the idea 
of playing ghost into the heads of other ser- 
vants. One of the Balcombe slaves had lately 
run away and could not be found. The family 
suspected that he was hiding not far off, 
because every night pigs, poultry, bread, and 
other provisions were stolen in quantities, 
by whom nobody could tell. After a while 



150 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

Napoleon began to complain of thefts, but 
when the various black servants were ques- 
tioned they all said that the thief must be a 
ghostly white figure that they saw skipping 
around the valley from rock to rock. That 
they believed what they said was shown by 
the alarm they showed, for none of them 
would go out alone by night. 

"I believe that it really and truly is old 
Huff's ghost," insisted Betsy. 

''You can't believe such a foolish thing; 
indeed, I should think you would know better 
after what happened the other evening, when 
you allowed yourself to be terrified by a little 
black girl," said her mother reprovingly. She 
added, "You look pale, Betsy. What is the 
trouble?" 

"I can't help it. I may be foolish," re- 
sponded poor Betsy, "but for nights and nights 
I have been afraid to close my eyes." 

"All on account of the ghost," thought Mrs. 
Balcombe, wishing that Betsy were less ner- 
vous. 

Mr. Balcombe and some friends now under- 
took to catch the thief, feeling sure that he 
would prove to be a substantial individual. 



ALL KINDS OF FUN 151 

After long watching, one night they saw a 
figure move stealthily across the valley toward 
the house. They called upon it to stop, but 
when it neither obeyed nor answered, they 
felt obliged to shoot. A loud scream followed 
the report of the gun, and when they came 
upon the fallen figure they discovered the 
runaway slave Alley. He was badly hurt, al- 
though not fatally, and they did what they 
could for him. The next morning the whole 
party went to the cave to which Alley directed 
them. Napoleon accompanied them and was 
much interested in what he saw. 

It reminded him of the catacombs of Paris, 
he exclaimed, as he looked about at the heaps 
of bones which the slave had placed in neatly 
arranged piles after he had gorged himself 
with food. 



CHAPTER X 

THE SERIOUS SIDE 

AS Betsy grew to know Napoleon bet- 
ter, she sometimes observed in his con- 
versation and manner a sadness that 
she had not noticed earlier. This slight mel- 
ancholy was especially evident when the 
conversation touched on Josephine or the little 
King of Rome. Often Napoleon gazed in- 
tently at Mrs. Balcombe, explaining as he did 
so that it was because she reminded him 
strongly of Josephine. He loved to talk of 
Josephine, especially with Madame Bertrand, 
who was a native of Martinique and was said 
also to be a distant relative of the Empress. 

One day, for example, Madame Bertrand, 
in Betsy's presence, brought out a miniature 
of Josephine. The Emperor seemed deeply 
moved as he gazed at it. 

"It is the most perfect likeness of her that 
I have ever seen." 



THE SERIOUS SIDE 153 

"It is for you, sir," said Madame Bertrand 
simply. 

Thanking her warmly, Napoleon added, "I 
will keep it until my death." 

On this occasion the Emperor was especially 
inclined to talk about his first wife, and Betsy, 
hearing him, wondered that he had been will- 
ing to separate himself from her. 

"Josephine," he said, "was the most femi- 
nine woman I have ever known all charm 
and sweetness and grace. Era la dama la piu 
graziosa in Francia." Then he continued: 
"Josephine was the goddess of the toilet. All 
fashions came from her. Besides this she was 
humane and always thoughtful of others. She 
was the best of women. Although the English 
and the Bourbons allow that I did some good, 
yet they generally qualify it by saying that it 
was chiefly through the instrumentality of 
Josephine. But the fact is that she never in- 
terfered in politics. Great as my veneration 
was for her, I could not bear to have it thought 
that she in any way ruled my public actions." 

Napoleon's praises of Josephine continued 
to flow on. 

"She was the greatest patroness of the arts 



154 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

known in France for years; but though I 
loved to attend to her whims, yet I always 
acted to please the nation, and whenever 
I obtained a fine statue or valuable picture I 
sent it to the Museum for the people's benefit. 
Josephine was grace personified. She never 
acted inelegantly during the whole time we 
lived together. Her toilet was perfection, and 
she resisted the inroads of time, to all appear- 
ances, by exquisite taste." 

Napoleon spoke with deep emotion, "She 
was the best of women!" 

Then, as if in answer to Betsy's unspoken 
question, he said: 

"It was only political motives that led me 
to give her up. Nothing else would have sep- 
arated me from a wife so tenderly loved. 
Thank God, she died without witnessing my 
last misfortune!" 

From Josephine Napoleon turned to Maria 
Louisa, his second wife, the mother of his son, 
of whom he spoke tenderly and affectionately : 

"She was an amiable and good wife. She 
would have followed me here, but they would 
not let her." 

Napoleon next called Betsy's attention to 



THE SERIOUS SIDE 155 

one or two portraits of Maria Louisa, but 
Betsy, though she made no criticism, thought 
then, as she had thought at other times when 
studying the face of Maria Louisa, that the 
Austrian Princess was at a disadvantage when 
contrasted with the members of Napoleon's 
family, all of whom were handsome and 
looked intellectual. 

This conversation about Josephine and 
Maria Louisa was interrupted by the arrival 
of a visitor, Count Piontkowski, lately arrived 
from Europe. He was a Pole who had fought 
under Napoleon, and his love for his fallen 
leader had led him to follow into exile. 

Napoleon himself had no clear remembrance 
of the Pole as an individual, and he was there- 
fore the more deeply gratified by the spirit of 
devotion that had induced Piontkowski to make 
the long voyage to St. Helena for the sake of 
being near his old commander. 

The long interview with the newcomer un- 
doubtedly brought before Napoleon's mind 
many sad memories, and when he returned to 
them Betsy and the others noticed that he was 
in unusually low spirits. As he looked again 
at the portraits of Josephine and Maria Louisa 



156 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

he grew more and more dejected, and at last, 
excusing himself, he went to bed much earlier 
than usual, leaving the rest of the party under 
the influence of his melancholy. 

When the second New Year came around, 
Napoleon was in less than his usual good 
spirits. It was not to Betsy, however, but to 
Dr. O'Meara that he said in reply to the 
physician's "Happy New Year": 

"Perhaps the next one will find me better 
situated. Perhaps I shall be dead, which will 
be better still. Worse than this cannot be." 

It was not the Emperor's habit to show his 
sadness for any great length of time. On this 
second New Year's the sisters were to go over 
to Longwood to carry their New Year greeting 
and to dine with Madame Bertrand. 

When they first arrived at the house Betsy 
was disappointed that Napoleon was nowhere 
in sight and she wondered that no message 
or present came from him, for she knew that 
the French made a special festival of New 
Year's and recalled the generosity of the 
Emperor just a year before. 

Still there was much to see and enjoy in 
Madame Bertrand's apartment, and she and 



THE SERIOUS SIDE 157 

Jane were examining with admiration the pres- 
ents of Madame Bertrand and her family, 
when Napoleon himself entered the room. 
In each hand he was carefully carrying a 
beautiful Sevres cup. As the girls drew near 
to look at them, they saw that on one was a 
portrait of Napoleon himself, representing 
him in Turkish costume, and on the other 
the figure of an Egyptian woman drawing 
water. 

''Here, Mdlles. Betsee and Jane," he 
exclaimed, "are two cups for you. Accept 
them as a mark of the friendship I entertain 
for you both and for your kindness to Madame 
Bertrand." 

Charmed with his beautiful presents, the 
girls thanked Napoleon warmly. Betsy, in- 
deed, was so delighted with her cup that she 
would not let it go out of her hands, and 
when at last the time for her departure came 
she wrapped it in many folds of cotton to 
carry it home at considerable risk even then, 
as the journey was made on horseback. 

Betsy was a keen observer, and although 
she was fond of paying Napoleon back in his 
own coin when he teased her, she appreciated 



158 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

the depth of his feelings in his more serious 
moments. 

One beautiful day, when she went over to 
Longwood, she was impressed by the brilliancy 
of the atmosphere, which is, indeed, one of 
the charms of St. Helena. Standing on the 
rocks she watched the waves breaking and 
sparkling at their base and noted the sea 
beyond, glistening like a sheet of quicksilver. 
With her spirits especially buoyant under the 
influence of the wonderful day, she went up 
to St. Denis, one of the Emperor's suite. 

" Where is the Emperor?" she asked gayly. 
"I want to see him." 

The Frenchman shook his head so gravely 
that for the moment the smile left Betsy's 
face and she wondered if any misfortune had 
happened. After a moment of silence, St. 
Denis replied: 

"The Emperor is watching the Conqueror, 
which is now coming in." The Conqueror was 
the vessel bearing the flag of Admiral Pam- 
plin, who was to succeed Admiral Malcom. 
"You will find the Emperor," continued St. 
Denis, "near Madame Bertrand's, but he is 
in no mood for badinage to-day." 



THE SERIOUS SIDE 159 

If the Frenchman had meant to keep Betsy 
away from Napoleon, he was not successful. 
In spite of his warning Betsy went on toward 
the cottage. As soon as she saw the Emperor, 
she herself came under the influence of his 
mood. He was standing on a cliff with Gen- 
eral Bertrand, looking out toward sea, where 
the Conqueror was still but a speck on the 
horizon. Betsy was impressed by the intense 
melancholy of the exiled Emperor's expres- 
sion, as he stood there stern and silent. His 
eyes were bent sadly upon the vessel as it 
came in, beating up proudly to windward. 

For some time not a word was uttered by 
any of the three. Even the talkative Betsy 
was silent. At last Napoleon spoke: 

'They manage the vessel beautifully; the 
English are certainly kings upon the sea," he 
said. Then his melancholy tone changed to 
one of sarcasm. "I wonder what they think 
of our beautiful island ! They cannot be much 
elated by the sight of my gigantic walls." 

At this moment Betsy did not venture a 
retort, as was generally the case when Napo- 
leon railed at her beloved St. Helena. Betsy 
was alive to all the beauties of the place, 



160 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

while Napoleon, naturally, saw only its faults. 
When Betsy defended the island and waxed 
eloquent over its beauties, sometimes he would 
simply laugh at her impertinence, while at 
others, pinching her ear in his favorite fashion, 
he would say: 

"Mees Betsee, how can you possibly dare 
to have an opinion on the subject?" 

This glimpse of Napoleon, sadly watching 
the Conqueror, was not the only occasion when 
Betsy had an opportunity to see the more 
serious side of the man whom she admired. 
Although she was only a young girl, she was 
able sometimes by her intelligent questions to 
draw from him an explanation of much dis- 
cussed things in his past. There was, for 
example, the oft-repeated story that Napoleon 
had sanctioned the butchery of Turkish troops 
at Jaffa and the poisoning of the sick in the 
hospitals. 

If the Emperor was vexed with Betsy for 
touching on forbidden ground, he did not 
show his feeling, but entered into an explana- 
tion that his young neighbor was able long 
afterwards to repeat in his own words. 
"Before leaving Jaffa," said Napoleon, "and 



THE SERIOUS SIDE 161 

when many of the sick had been embarked, I 
was informed that there were some in the 
hospital severely wounded, dangerously ill, 
and unfit to be moved at any risk. I de- 
sired my medical men to hold a consultation 
as to what steps had best be taken with 
regard to the unfortunate sufferers and to 
send in their opinions to me. The result of 
this consultation was that seven-eighths of 
the soldiers were considered past recovery, 
and that in all probability few would be alive 
at the expiration of twenty hours." 

Betsy listened attentively, as Napoleon 
showed how difficult it was to decide whether 
it was not more cruel to leave these helpless 
men to the mercy of the Turks than to end 
their misery by a dose of opium: "I should 
have desired such a relief for myself under 
the same circumstances and I considered it 
would be an act of mercy to anticipate their 
fate by only a few hours. My physician did 
not enter into my views of the case, and dis- 
approved of the proposal, saying it was his 
business to cure, not to kill. Accordingly I 
left a rear-guard to protect these unhappy men 
from the enemy. They remained until Nature 



162 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

had paid her last debt and released the expir- 
ing soldiers from their agony." 

As his auditors did not look convinced of 
the correctness of his views, Napoleon turned 
to Dr. O'Meara, who was of the party. 

"I ask you, O'Meara, to place yourself in 
the situation of one of these men. Were it 
demanded of you which fate you would select, 
either to be left to suffer the tortures of those 
miscreants or to have opium administered to 
you, which fate would you rather choose ? If 
my own son and I believe I love my son 
as well as any father loves his child - - were 
in a similar situation, I should advise it to be 
done. If so situated myself I should insist 
upon it, if I had sense enough and strength 
to demand it." 

Without waiting for comment from the 
others, Napoleon added that if he had been 
capable of secretly poisoning his soldiers or 
of the barbarity ascribed to him of driving his 
carriage over the mutilated bodies of the 
wounded, his troops would never have fought 
under him with the enthusiasm and reverence 
they uniformly displayed. No, no, I should 
have been shot long ago. Even my wounded 



THE SERIOUS SIDE 163 

would have tried to pull a trigger to despatch 
me." 

The Emperor spoke so earnestly that no 
one could doubt he meant what he said. Even 
though they believed that the Turkish prison- 
ers had been treated with great cruelty, his 
hearers saw that ambition or a feeling of 
necessity had been the impelling motive of 
the officers who sanctioned or ordered the 
cruelty. 

Napoleon's conversations with Betsy were 
of course carried on largely in French, and 
but for the little girl's fluency in this language 
she would probably have seen much less of 
the great man. Napoleon himself made a real 
effort to learn English. Not only did he study 
with Las Cases, but he tried to practise the 
language with Betsy and her sister. In con- 
versation, however, he never became very pro- 
ficient, his pronunciation was droll, and he 
was inclined to translate things very literally. 
Betsy was less patient than her sister with 
Napoleon's English. By his expressed desire 
she and Jane were always to correct his mis- 
takes, yet often, in the midst of his efforts, she 
would run off without deigning to help him. 



164 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

"Ah, Mdlle. Betsee," he would then cry in 
French, "you are a stupid little creature; 
when will you become wise ? " 

Although Napoleon persevered with his 
English lessons with Las Cases, he never pro- 
ceeded much further than to read the news- 
papers. English books presented many dif- 
ficulties, and yet much of the literature that 
came his way was in this language. Here 
again Betsy was able to make herself very 
useful by translating books or newspapers for 
him, and sometimes she went further and 
gave him in condensed form the contents of 
a great many pages. Even after he went to 
Longwood, when Betsy went over there to 
call on Madame Bertrand, Napoleon would 
summon her to help him understand some 
newly arrived English book. 

From Napoleon's own admission to one of 
his own suite, after he had been in St. Helena 
a year or two, we can judge that his progress 
in English had not been very rapid. One 
morning, after the arrival of a number of 
French books, he said: 

"What a pleasure I have enjoyed! I 
can read forty pages of French in the 



THE SERIOUS SIDE 165 

time that it would require to read two of 
English." 

The Emperor enjoyed talking with Betsy, 
for the little girl was a great reader herself, 
and he had the faculty of drawing from her 
whatever information she had on a given sub- 
ject. Occasionally she thoughtlessly questioned 
Napoleon on topics that she might better have 
avoided. 

One Sunday, for example, at Madame Ber- 
trand's, he found the girls poring over a book. 

"What are you doing?" he asked abruptly. 

"Learning the collect," replied Betsy. "My 
father is always very angry if I do not know 
it." Then she added, not very courteously, 
"I suppose you never learned a collect or 
anything religious in your life, for I know 
that you do not believe in the existence of 
a God." 

'You have been told an untruth," replied 
Napoleon impatiently, evidently displeased 
with Betsy. "When you are wiser you will 
understand that no one can doubt the exist- 
ence of a God." 

"But you believe in predestination?" 

"Whatever a man's destiny calls him to 



166 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

do, that he must fulfil," was the Emperor's 
response. 

Young though she was, Betsy understood 
the seriousness that underlay the superficial 
gayety most in evidence when Napoleon met 
her. She decided that he was not the cold, 
calculating man that most people thought 
him, but rather a man of deep feeling, capable 
of strong attachments. 

One day, not long after he had left The 
Briars, a lady approached Betsy, who was in 
the grounds outside the house. 

As she dismounted from her horse Betsy 
had recognized her as a French woman of 
high position, whose husband was one of the 
diplomatists then at St. Helena. 

"Will you be so good," she said almost 
timidly to the little girl, "as to show me the 
part of the cottage occupied by the Emperor ? " 

"With pleasure," responded Betsy, leading 
the way to the Pavilion. The lady looked 
about her with great interest. 

"Look!" said Betsy, pointing to the spot 
where the marquee had stood. "Look at this 
crown in the turf!" 

The lady gazed for some minutes at this 



THE SERIOUS SIDE 167 

empty symbol of the power once held by the 
Emperor. The thoughts that it brought up 
overpowered her. Losing all self-control, she 
sank to her knees, sobbing hysterically. For- 
getful of Betsy, she continued to weep so bit- 
terly that the little girl started for the cottage 
that she might get her mother, or some one 
else of the household, to bring restoratives. 

"Stop, stop!" cried the lady, as if realizing 
her purpose. "Do not call any one. I shall be 
myself in a moment." Then, in a voice still 
filled with emotion, she added, "Please do me 
the favor of never mentioning this to any one. 
All French people feel as I do. They all treas- 
ure Napoleon's memory as I do, and would 
willingly die for him." 

Betsy gave the required promise and waited 
patiently until the lady had recovered her 
self-possession. Then the latter asked in- 
numerable questions of the little girl about 
the life of Napoleon and his suite at The 
Briars. 

Several times the visitor repeated, "How 
happy it must have made you to be with the 
Emperor!" 

When she rode away after her long inter- 



168 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

view, she put a thick veil over her face to 
hide the fact that she had been weeping. 

Betsy was true to her word, and although 
her family, one after another, asked her why 
the visitor had made so long a stay, she merely 
replied that she had been interested in the 
Pavilion. But the scene made a deep impres- 
sion on the little girl, as showing the remark- 
able hold of Napoleon on the hearts of those 
who had been his subjects. Moreover she 
judged, and truly too, that a man for whom 
such deep feeling was shown must him- 
self have been of a kind and sympathetic 
nature. 

It is true that she did not need the testimony 
of any outsider to assure her of Napoleon's 
amiability. She was well acquainted with his 
general kindliness; she knew of many of his 
gracious acts, and the charm of his manner 
toward all young people had made a deep 
impression upon her. 

Another thing that she noticed convinced 
Betsy of the softer qualities of Napoleon's 
nature. This was the firm devotion of the 
little band of Frenchmen and French wo- 
men who had followed him to St. Helena. 



THE SERIOUS SIDE 169 

They had made great sacrifices in sharing the 
exile of Napoleon. There was so little to hope 
for, in the way of reward for this devotion, 
that no reasonable person could doubt their 
disinterestedness. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE EMPEROR'S VISITORS 

'* \"T 7HO danced the best at the Governor's 
\ \ ball?" Napoleon asked Betsy one 

day. 

"Mrs. Wilks, the Governor's lady." 
This was before the arrival of Sir Hudson 
Lowe. 

"What sort of dances are in fashion there ?" 
"Quadrilles, country dances. Mr. C. 
brought them to St. Helena." 
"Oh, he is a great dandy! " 
'Yes; he will sit with his feet above his 
head an hour before dressing, the more 
readily to squeeze them into tight shoes. He 
wore an epaulette nearly down to his elbow, 
and his sword hilt was embroidered with 
golden oak leaves. The same embroidery con- 
fined his stockings, on each knee, like the 
order of the garter. When he first arrived he 
was disgusted that St. Helena ladies knew 



THE EMPEROR'S VISITORS 171 

only kitchen dances and reels, and finally he 
drilled quadrilles and other new dances into 
them." 

Betsy's description of the young dandy 
amused Napoleon. "Bring him to Longwood 
some day," he said. 

A pass was obtained for the young man and 
Napoleon received him most politely. "I hear 
from Mees Betsee that you are a great dandy, 
- and what a fine coat!" 

The young man, who had been in some 
fear of the Emperor, felt better. 

: *You are more fortunate than myself," 
continued Napoleon, "for I have to wear my 
coat turned." Although this was true, it was 
only because there was no cloth his shade of 
green on the island. 

On the whole Napoleon liked the young 
dandy, especially as he spoke French fluently. 

But Napoleon was not always glad, or even 
willing, to receive visitors. In fact, after the 
first few months on the island, he practically 
refused to allow strangers to be presented to 
him, unless there was some special reason for 
his seeing them. 

One day, when Napoleon was still at The 



172 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

Briars, the girls were walking with him down 
Pomegranate Walk, which led to the garden, 
when he heard strangers' voices. He did not 
wish to meet them, and began to run away, 
but, unluckily, when he reached the garden 
gate he found it locked. Napoleon was not 
likely to turn aside from anything he had 
undertaken to do, and as the voices drew 
nearer, too impatient to wait, he insisted on 
jumping over the gate fence. There was a 
prickly pear on top, the thorns of which caught 
him so that at first he could not extricate 
himself. Then he had to descend rather igno- 
miniously on the garden side, before the 
strangers appeared. The thorns had really 
done considerable damage, and it took no 
little skill on Dr. O'Meara's part to extract 
them. 

To Betsy's friends Napoleon was apt to be 
more obliging than to others, and tourists, 
many of whom stayed over at St. Helena on 
their way to or from Africa or India, fre- 
quently sought her services to effect an intro- 
duction. 

"Sir," said Betsy to Napoleon one day, 
"may I present a lady to you? She is just 



THE EMPEROR'S VISITORS 173 

here from India. Her husband has high 
rank." 

Napoleon was not fond of women visitors, 
but he gave his consent to Betsy's request. 

At the appointed time the lady from India 
appeared, gowned in crimson velvet bordered 
with pearls. Her black hair was braided and 
adorned with pearls, and butterflies of dia- 
monds and emeralds and rubies. She was 
one of the plainest women Betsy had ever 
seen, and she was fearful of the impression 
she would make on Napoleon. 

After Napoleon had asked the usual ques- 
tions, "Are you married?" and "How many 
children have you ? " he looked closely at her 
to see what compliment he could best pay 
her. 

At length, after a pause that might have 
embarrassed a less complacent woman, he 
said politely, "Madame, you have the most 
luxuriant hair." 

That the lady from India had fine hair was 
so evident a fact, that she need not have been 
so exceedingly pleased by Napoleon's compli- 
ment. Yet she was so overcome by it that 
when she returned to England she sent letters 



174 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

to the newspapers speaking of the Emperor's 
great admiration for her. 

Napoleon, in reality, did not at all like this 
visitor, and when she had gone he said 
severely to the young girl: 

"You shall introduce me to no more ladies." 
His tone was so unusually severe that Betsy 
did not dare confess what really was the 
case, that she had brought Mrs. S. to see 
Napoleon merely to tease him, knowing that 
it was positively disagreeable to him to meet 
very plain women. 

Betsy one day came to him full of excite- 
ment over a traveller whom she had just seen. 

"Oh, he is extraordinary; queerer than any 
one I have ever met here. His long black 
beard reaches to his waist, and he wears a 
regular mandarin's dress." 

"An Englishman dressed like a Chinaman ? " 

'Yes! You know he has been there so 

long, and he has done the most wonderful 

things! Why, he has even travelled to Thibet 

and talked to the Grand Lama." 

The Emperor's interest was aroused. 

"I have always wished to hear something 
about the Grand Lama," he said, "especially 



THE EMPEROR'S VISITORS 175 

about the way he is worshipped, for I believe 
that much I have read is fabulous. I should 
like to see this traveller." 

"I knew you would," cried Betsy, "and he 
is anxious to see you, too. He was a prisoner 
of war once in France, and he says you treated 
him very kindly ; so he has brought you some 
presents, and if - 

;< Yes, and if he can get a pass - 

The sentence was left unfinished. But 
Mr. Manning obtained a pass to see the 
Emperor and presented him with a number 
of curious things that he had collected in his 
travels. 

"The Lama," he said in answer to a ques- 
tion, "when I saw him, was a very intelligent 
boy of seven, and I went through the same 
form of worship as the others who were intro- 
duced into his presence." 

"Were you not afraid of being seized as a 
spy?" asked Napoleon. 

The traveller hesitated, as if not quite 
pleased by the question. Then, with a laugh, 
he pointed to his dress and beard, as if they 
were a sufficient answer. 

"Did you pass for an Englishman?" per- 



176 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

sisted the Emperor. "The shape of your nose 
is too good for a Tartar." 

"No," replied Mr. Manning; "I was gen- 
erally taken for a Hindoo." The bystanders, 
looking at his fine eyes and regular features, 
could easily understand that in the role of 
a Hindoo he must certainly have been suc- 
cessful. 

The conversation between the two the 
Emperor and the traveller lasted for some 
time. 

" Travellers," said Napoleon, "are privi- 
leged to tell marvellous stories, but I hope 
you are not doing this in describing to me all 
the wonders of Thibet." 

Then he continued his questions, asking 
much about the Lama, and the customs and 
religion of his people. His queries showed that 
he already possessed a fund of information 
about this strange country, and Mr. Manning 
finally said, "You have as much information 
on Thibet as I have myself." 

Napoleon accepted the compliment, but 
the many questions that he continued to ask, 
especially concerning the Chinese and their 
language and habits, showed that he was 



THE EMPEROR'S VISITORS 177 

quite willing to admit Mr. Manning's greater 
knowledge of the Orient. 

When the unusually long interview had 
ended, Napoleon turned to Betsy with an 
expression in which sadness was mingled with 
satisfaction. 

"This conversation," he cried, "has given 
me more pleasure than anything I have ex- 
perienced for many long months." 

Betsy, realizing the Emperor's capacity for 
finding entertainment in hearing about the 
small things that made up the life of St. 
Helena, always gratified him by describing 
the little festivities in which she took part, or 
even the larger affairs of which she knew only 
by what others told her. Like all places gar- 
risoned by British regiments, there was always 
much going on, as the phrase is, on the island, 
and the gossip of the place, usually harmless 
enough in itself, never failed to entertain him. 

Sometimes he tried to draw from the little 
girl information that for one reason or another 
she did not care to give him sometimes 
merely to tease him, sometimes because she 
feared that what she said might disturb him. 

"So you have been calling on Lady Lowe 



178 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

at Plantation House," he said, after one of 
her visits to the wife of the Governor. "Tell 
me, does she ask about your visits to Long- 
wood ? " 

"There, that is just the kind of thing she 
asks me. I am sure to be questioned what we 
say and do in your presence;" and beyond 
this Betsy would give Napoleon little satisfac- 
tion. 

"Who is the most beautiful woman on the 
island ? " he asked on another occasion. 

"Madame Bertrand," replied Betsy, never 
at a loss for an answer, "is more beautiful 
than any one I have ever seen. Every one else 
seems insignificant beside her. Why, when 
my father saw her on the Northumberland he 
was very much struck by her. Her features 
may not be strictly beautiful, but her expres- 
sion is intellectual. Besides, her bearing is so 
queenlike and dignified!" 

"But don't you think Madame Montholon 
pretty?" 

"No," responded Betsy unhesitatingly, in 
spite of the fact that she had much regard for 
Madame Montholon. 

"Marchand," cried Napoleon, apparently 



THE EMPEROR'S VISITORS 179 

changing the subject, "bring me my snuff- 
box, you know which." 

The faithful Marchand obeyed, and when 
he returned Napoleon took the snuffbox from 
his hands to show the girls for Jane was 
with Betsy a miniature on the lid. 

It was a portrait of Madame Montholon, 
taken many years earlier. 

'Yes, it is like her," Betsy admitted, "and 
beautiful, too." 

"She was just like that when she was 
young," responded the Emperor. 

Although Napoleon w r as fond of teasing 
Betsy, whenever he found that he could serve 
her in any way he never failed to show 
himself a true friend. 

Once Dr. O'Meara came upon Betsy alone 
in the garden with tears in her eyes. To 
his inquiry as to the cause of her sorrow, 
she pouted, and at first hesitated in her reply. 
On second thoughts she exclaimed, "It is too 
mean! Just because I didn't do my lessons 
yesterday, to keep me home from the races!" 

"Were you warned?" 

"Oh, yes, but I did not expect to be pun- 
ished." 



180 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

"Probably this isn't the first time, and your 
parents are bound to make you remember." 

"Oh, it is my father, and it's the meanest 
thing! He has lent Tom to somebody. My 
pony is not in the stable. Who could have 
been so mean as to borrow the only pony that 
I can ride? All the others have ridden off, 
and there is no way for me to go." 

Dr. O'Meara listened sympathetically. 
Probably he did not exactly understand the 
situation or he would hardly have encouraged 
a young girl to disobey her parents. It was 
quite natural that to Betsy, the lover of 
gayety, her punishment seemed greater than 
she deserved. Every one that she knew was 
going to the races, for the Deadwood races, 
instituted by John Rous, were made a kind 
of festival by the people of the island. Since 
every one she knew had gone to Deadwood, 
there was no horse at hand that she could 
borrow. For the moment Napoleon's little 
neighbor was troubled by no sense of duty; 
the only question was how to reach Deadwood. 

Dr. O'Meara, after Betsy had poured out 
her soul to him, rode on towards Longwood 
at a rapid pace. Not long afterwards her 



THE EMPEROR'S VISITORS 181 

heart leaped with joy when she saw Dr. 
O'Meara winding down the mountain, fol- 
lowed by a slave with a superb gray horse. 
At once she recognized Mameluke, one of 
Napoleon's stable, and, as the horses drew 
nearer, she saw that above his crimson saddle- 
cloth Mameluke wore a lady's saddle. Even 
before Dr. O'Meara spoke, she understood 
what his quick return meant. 

"Here, Miss Betsy, cheer up," he cried 
when he drew near the little girl. "This horse 
is for you. When the Emperor heard of your 
disappointment, he ordered the quietest horse 
in his stable to be sent to you." 

Regardless of consequences to herself, 
pleased by the good-natured attention of the 
Emperor, light-hearted Betsy on Mameluke 
went to the races. Perhaps she would have 
hesitated had she known that her father, 
rather than she herself, was to be the sufferer 
by her heedless act, for afterwards it gave 
her great pain to learn that Mr. Balcombe 
had been severely reprimanded by Governor 
Lowe for having committed a breach of dis- 
cipline in letting his daughter borrow a horse 
belonging to the Longwood establishment. 



182 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

But for the time Betsy had the fun of the 
races, and the next day she went over to 
Longwood to thank Napoleon. 

"Aha, Mees Betsee," he said after their first 
greeting, " perhaps you do not know that I 
too saw the races." 

"But I did not see you there." 

"Ah, where were your eyes ? You were not 
thinking of me; but they were amusing." 

After a little more teasing, Betsy learned 
that Napoleon had seen the Deadwood 
races from an upper window of General 
Gorgaud's house. 

'You were so amused," he added, "that 
you forgot to be afraid. I have told your 
father you should never be encouraged in 
foolish fears." 

"I wish you had been really there!" 

"Ah, gayety is not for me." Napoleon's face 
became grave. 

Betsy, noticing this, added quickly, "But 
you are coming to my birthday fete." 

"Surely! It will not be far away at Rous 
Cottage." 

The day of the birthday was bright and 
fair, and as large numbers of guests had 



THE EMPEROR'S VISITORS 183 

assembled, Rous Cottage, which had been 
chosen for this picnic fete, was named for the 
gallant flag officer of the Northumberland, 
whom Napoleon admired and called "a very 
brave man." 

In the earlier part of the celebration, Betsy, 
flying among her friends, was too much 
absorbed to notice that Napoleon had not 
come, but when she missed him she began to 
look eagerly in the direction in which she 
might expect to see him appear. He had said 
he would come to the party, and Betsy ex- 
pected him to keep his promise, though it was 
an unheard-of thing for him to mingle in a 
gay crowd. 

After a while she was delighted to see him 
in the distance, riding along the hills. Soon 
she saw that he was no longer riding. His 
horse was at a standstill. What could this 
mean ? Presently a messenger from the Em- 
peror appeared to say that he would content 
himself by looking on. 

The young hostess was not satisfied with 
this. Rushing off to the hill where Napoleon 
waited, she stood before him. 

"This is not keeping your promise. You 



184 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

said you would come, indeed you did, and 
you should not disappoint me on my birth- 
day." 

Napoleon smiled at his young friend, but 
he spoke with decision 1 . 

"No; I won't come down to be stared at 
by a crowd who wish to gratify their curios- 
ity by a sight of me." 

Betsy begged and pleaded, using every effort 
to make him change his mind, but he was 
firm. Nothing could change him. 

A friend in England had sent Betsy a huge 
birthday cake, ornamented with a large eagle. 
That she should have had a cake decorated 
with this imperial emblem occasioned much 
comment on the island. In fact, in the eyes 
of some, Mr. Balcombe and his family were 
under more or less of a cloud on account of 
their open admiration for the illustrious pris- 
oner of St. Helena. When Betsy found that 
her words made no impression on Napoleon, 
she left him for a few moments, only to return 
with a slice of the cake. 

'You must eat this thick slice," she said, 
holding it out to him. "It is the least you can 
do for getting us into this disgrace. Some 



THE EMPEROR'S VISITORS 185 

people think it almost treason when they see 
the eagle on the cake." 

Napoleon ate the cake with evident appre- 
ciation. Then he pinched Betsy's ear in his 
usual familiar fashion, saying as he did so, 
"Saucy simpleton!" As he galloped away 
Betsy could not help smiling, as she heard 
him singing, or rather trying to sing in his 
most unmusical voice, " Vive, Henri Quatre. " 



CHAPTER XII 

THOUGHTLESS BETSY 

SOMETIMES, without intending to hurt 
Napoleon's feelings, heedless Betsy must 
often have come near wounding him. 
One day, for example, she showed him a toy 
that had lately come to St. Helena from 
Europe. It represented a toy emperor climb- 
ing a ladder, each rung of which was a coun- 
try. When he reached the top he sat for an 
instant astride the world, and then went 
headlong down the other side, until he landed 
at last on St. Helena. 

Napoleon himself did not reprove Betsy for 
her rudeness, but Mr. Balcombe was dis- 
turbed and angry when he heard of it. Betsy, 
he decided, was altogether too fond of playing 
foolish tricks, and he resolved to teach her a 
lesson that she could not forget. 

Calling her to him, after he had expressed 
his displeasure for what she had done, "Betsy," 



THOUGHTLESS BETSY 187 

he said in his severest tone, "you are to 
spend the night in the cellar, and every 
night for a week you shall sleep there. You 
must be taught respect for your elders. It 
is to punish you for your rudeness to Napo- 
leon that I am resolved to punish you in this 
way." 

Poor Betsy shivered at her father's words. 
Bold though she was in the face of danger by 
day, darkness always had great terrors for her, 
and to spend the night underground was a 
punishment she felt she could hardly bear. 
Her protests, however, were useless. Her 
father locked her in the dark cellar and left 
her there. Betsy's experiences that night were 
terrible. Rats made the cellar their home, 
and, as they jumped about in the darkness, 
they tumbled the bottles of wine about, mak- 
ing a terrible noise. Betsy was so frightened 
that to defend herself from them she picked 
up bottle after bottle to hurl against them. 
At last they were driven away, but there was 
no sleep for Betsy on the bed that had been 
prepared for her. At dawn a faint light came 
through the windows, just enough to show her 
what havoc she had made. Broken bottles lay 



188 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

about her everywhere and in every direction 
ran rivulets of wine. 

At last she fell into a heavy stupor, and in 
this condition a slave, who had been sent with 
her breakfast, found her. Alarmed at the sight 
of Betsy, apparently half dead, the slave ran 
to summon Mr. Balcombe. When he hurried 
to the cellar, Mr. Balcombe was naturally 
shocked by what he saw. He had not thought 
of rats, and he was only too thankful that 
Betsy had escaped serious injury. He not only 
did not reprove her for the destruction of the 
claret, but forgave her for her offence against 
Napoleon. 

As to Napoleon, "It was too great a punish- 
ment," he said, "for so little an offence." 
Then he laughed heartily as the lively Betsy, 
now quite herself again, gave a vivid account 
of her battle with the rats. "Ah, the rats!" 
he added; "a big one jumped out of my hat 
one day, as I was about to put it on. It 
startled me." 

Some time after this adventure in the cellar, 
Mr. Balcombe again had occasion to punish 
Betsy and again he thought of the cellar. 

"No, not the cellar!" remonstrated Napo- 



THOUGHTLESS BETSY 189 

leon. But Mr. Balcombe was obdurate. He 
had decided that Betsy should have a week's 
imprisonment there, staying by day but re- 
leased at night that she might sleep in her 
own room. 

So Betsy went daily to her cell. She man- 
aged to vary the monotony of her prison life 
by sitting close to the grating of the open 
window, and while she sat there, the picture 
of dejection, Napoleon, approaching the win- 
dow, daily expressed a half-mocking sympathy 
with her. For a time Betsy maintained an ap- 
pearance of dignity and injured innocence, but 
in the end the Emperor, by mimicking her 
doleful expression, usually succeeded in mak- 
ing her laugh. 

"Sewing!" he exclaimed in surprise, when 
he visited Betsy on the third day of her 
imprisonment. 

; 'Yes," responded Betsy; "I am making a 
dress for myself." 

" Ah, they indeed are cruel - 

Like all Betsy's acquaintances, Napoleon 
knew that she had no strong love for sewing 
and the ordinary domestic duties. She was at 
the age when boyish sports were much more 



190 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

fun than the occupations that older people 
prescribed for girls. 

"But no one required me to sew. I am 
sewing because I wish to." 

The Emperor expressed his surprise at this 
announcement. 

'Yes," continued Betsy; "I did not know 
what else to do. It is frightfully dull here, so 
I begged old black Sarah to find me some 
work, and this is what she brought." Betsy 
held up the partly made dress with consider- 
able pride. 

It is to Betsy's credit that she finished the 
dress old Sarah had brought her, although her 
fit of industry did not outlast her week's im- 
prisonment. 

'You should keep Mees Betsee's prison 
livery," said Napoleon to Mrs. Balcombe, 
"and show it to her occasionally, when 
you think that she is on the point of 
doing something foolish that ought to be 
punished." 

"Prison livery" w r as Napoleon's name for 
the dress that Betsy had made during her 
week in the cell. 

Betsy, however, was only one of many per- 



THOUGHTLESS BETSY 191 

sons who had disagreeable experiences with 
the rats of St. Helena. A sleeping slave, for 
example, had a part of his leg bitten off. 
One of Count Bertrand's horses in the stable 
had been severely bitten, and Dr. O'Meara 
had once had to defend himself from the ro- 
dents by hurling his bootjack repeatedly at 
them. Other tales of fierce rats had been told, 
and in consequence Betsy, when she thought 
of her escape from real harm, had good cause 
for congratulation. 

The battle of the rats happened while Na- 
poleon was still living at The Briars, and 
though Betsy long remembered it, it cannot 
be said that she altogether profited by the 
lesson that it should have conveyed to her. 
Later, when Napoleon was living at Long- 
wood, Betsy, visiting at Madame Bertrand's, 
occupied herself with practising a song that 
was a favorite with one of the ladies of the 
garrison. 

Betsy sang and played very well, and Napo- 
leon, hearing the new song, praised the air 
though he did not understand the words. Now 
it happened that the song was a monody on 
the death of the Due d'Enghien, for whose 



192 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

death Napoleon had been greatly blamed by 
friends as well as by foes. 

"What is the song?" Napoleon asked. 

A tactful girl would have devised some 
answer to spare Napoleon's feelings. But 
thoughtless Betsy, without a word, turned to 
the front page of the sheet of music, on which 
was a picture of a man standing in a ditch, 
his eyes bandaged and a lantern hanging from 
his waist, while soldiers w r ere aiming their 
muskets at him. 

"What is it?" asked Napoleon, to whom 
the picture conveyed no meaning. 

"It represents the murder of the Due 
d'Enghien," replied Betsy. 

Napoleon examined the picture more closely. 
Then, turning to the young girl: 

" What do you know of the Due d'Enghien ?" 

"That you are considered the murderer of 
that illustrious prince," replied Betsy, with 
great lack of consideration. 

"It is true," responded Napoleon, "that I 
ordered his execution, for he was a conspirator 
and had landed troops in the pay of the 
Bourbons to assassinate me. In the face of 
such a conspiracy, the most politic thing was 



THOUGHTLESS BETSY 193 

to put a Bourbon prince to death so that the 
Bourbons would not again try to take my life. 
The prisoner was tried for having taken arms 
against the Republic, and was executed ac- 
cording to law. But he was not shot in a 
ditch nor at night. All was open and known 
to the public." 

This talk about the Due d'Enghien led 
Napoleon to tell Betsy of many thrilling ex- 
periences of his own in escaping death at the 
hands of would-be assassins. 

At another time Betsy ran up to Napoleon, 
crying, "Why is your face so swollen and 
inflamed ? " 

"Oh," replied Napoleon, assuming a dole- 
ful look, "Dr. O'Meara has just drawn a 
tooth and I have had much pain." 

"What!" exclaimed Betsy in the role of 
mentor. 'You to complain of pain the pain 
of so trifling an operation, though you have 
gone through battles innumerable with storms 
of bullets whizzing, some of which must have 
touched you. I am ashamed. But give me 
the tooth, and I will get Mr. Solomon to set 
it as an ear-ring." 

Napoleon, listening to Betsy, was evidently 



194 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

amused by her tone of assumed severity, and 
laughing heartily, replied: "See how I laugh, 
even while I suffer. Ah, Mees Betsee, I fear 
you will never cut your wisdom tooth." 

Although Betsy saw more of Napoleon than 
the other children, they were all fond of him; 
but it is to be feared that Betsy's example 
w r as not the best in the world for her little 
brothers, who were much younger than she. 
One day, for example, Napoleon had given 
little Alexander a pretty box made by Piron, 
rilled with his delicious bonbons. 

"When my brother had eaten all his sugar- 
plums," said Betsy, "and was grieving over 
his exhausted store, he unluckily chanced 
to espy a pill-box. He thereupon took some 
pills from the box and offered them to the 
Emperor. Napoleon helped himself, thinking 
they were sugar-plums, and began eating. 
He soon ejected them with coughing and 
nausea." 

Las Cases, it is needless to say, reported 
this to Mr. Balcombe, who whipped Alexan- 
der soundly. Nobody can deny that the little 
boy merited the punishment. 

A favorite jest of Napoleon was to cry, 



THOUGHTLESS BETSY 195 

"Now, Mdlle. Betsee, I hope you have been 
a good child and learned your lessons." 

Then Betsy would redden and toss her 
head, for, like most girls in their early teens, 
she wished to be thought older than she was. 
This habit of teasing was one that Napoleon 
had found time to indulge in even when he 
was at the height of his power. He was very 
fond of children, and some one has said that 
no case is known in which he refused to grant 
a favor when a child was asked to be the 
messenger. He was fond of his nieces and 
nephews, and devoted to his step-children. 
Few brothers have ever been kinder to their 
brothers and sisters than Napoleon to his. 
When he was only sixteen, he began to take a 
great interest in the education of his brother 
Lucien, who was six years younger. When he 
was a lieutenant in the army, he made real 
sacrifices for Louis, who was twelve years old. 
Yet, in spite of his love for them, he teased 
them just as he teased Betsy. Every one knows 
how he used to fondle the little King of Rome 
and carry him around in his arms while he 
was dictating to his secretaries. One who knew 
him writes: 



196 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

"It used to be a real holiday for the Em- 
peror when Queen Hortense came to see her 
mother, bringing her two children. Napoleon 
would take them in his arms, caress them, 
often tease them, and burst into laughter as 
if he had been of their own age, when, accord- 
ing to his custom, he had smeared their faces 
with jam or cream." 

Sometimes, however, he went too far, even 
with his young relatives. Once when he had 
playfully pulled the ears of his nephew, little 
Achille Murat, the boy protested, "You are 
a naughty, wicked man," to the great amuse- 
ment of his uncle. 

But if Napoleon was inclined to tease the 
young people at The Briars, he was also 
ready to do pleasant things for them. He 
certainly entered into the feelings of young 
people. With them he became a child, and 
an amusing one. Many were the games he 
played with Betsy and her brothers and sister, 
not only blindman's buff but puss in the 
corner and other quieter games. 

Betsy was not the only one of the Balcombe 
family whom Napoleon loved to tease. Jane, 
the elder sister, was the more dignified and it 



THOUGHTLESS BETSY 19? 

was therefore easier to embarrass her. Toward 
the end of her stay at St. Helena, an English 
surgeon, Dr. Stokoe, was sent to the island. 
He was much the senior of Jane, but, because 
the two were seen much together, the gossips 
of St. Helena thought that he wished to marry 
her. 

Napoleon himself occasionally teased Jane 
about Dr. Stokoe, and professed to think that 
Mr. Balcombe was a cruel father, standing 
in the way of his daughter's happiness. "Why 
have you refused your daughter to the surgeon 
of the flagship ? " he would ask mischievously, 
adding, "C'est un brave homme" 

Napoleon's capacity for seeing the humor- 
ous side of things kept up his spirits wonder- 
fully during his first year or two of exile. 
Betsy's enjoyment of a joke, even of a practical 
joke, was perhaps the strongest bond between 
the Emperor and his little neighbor. 

"Come," he would say, "come, Mees Betsee, 
sit down and sing like our dear departed 
friend." By this term Napoleon referred to a 
certain lady who believed herself to be the 
possessor of a very fine voice. To exhibit her 
prowess this lady would sit down and sing 



198 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

Italian airs in an affected style. At the end 
of a performance the lady expected, and re- 
ceived, the Emperor's compliments; but when 
at last she was away and out of hearing, he 
roared with laughter as Betsy, at the piano, 
imitated the lady's affectations. 

With his eyes closed he would pretend that 
he really believed he was listening to the 
operatic lady, and end by thanking Betsy 
gravely for the pleasure she had given. 

Napoleon himself was a good mimic. He 
amused the Balcombe family greatly by his 
imitation of London cockney street cries. 

"Mees Jane," he asked one evening, "have 
you ever heard the London cries ? " 

"No, sir, never," she replied. 

"Then I must let you hear them;" and 
without waiting further, he began to make a 
series of shrill sounds. At first it was difficult 
to distinguish the words, for Napoleon's droll 
accent could hardly be called good English. 
His intonation, however, was perfect, and ex- 
actly represented the street venders crying 
their wares. 

'You must have been in London, unknown 
to any one," cried Jane; "for if you haven't 



THOUGHTLESS BETSY 199 

been there, I don't see how you could have 
got those cries so perfectly." 

In suggesting that Napoleon might have 
been in London incognito, Jane was only re- 
peating what then had wide currency that 
Napoleon in the height of his power had 
slipped away from Paris, letting no one know 
that he was to cross the Channel, to spend a 
few days in London, studying the English and 
their ways. 

To the inquisitive Jane, however, Napoleon 
gave no information as to the truth of this 
belief. 

"I was much entertained," he said, "by one 
of my buffos, who introduced London street 
cries into a comedy that he got up in Paris." 

This mention of the theatre led Napoleon 
to speak of Talma. "He was the truest 
actor to nature that ever trod the boards," 
he said. 

"Talma?" repeated Betsy, catching the 
actor's name. "Oh, I remember; they used 
to say that you took lessons from him how to 
sit on the throne." 

"I have often heard that myself," responded 
Napoleon, "and I even mentioned it once to 



200 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

Talma himself as a sign that I was considered 
to hold myself well on it." 

Napoleon often displayed his powers of 
mimicry, to the great entertainment of the 
children. 

A large ball, given by Sir George Bingham 
in return for the civilities that had been shown 
the Fifty-third Regiment, took place not far 
from Longwood, and practically every one on 
the island was invited. 

"It was the very prettiest affair I ever saw," 
said Betsy, "and you ought to have seen it." 

Glancing at Napoleon, she thought she 
caught a certain meaning in the smile with 
which he greeted her remark. "I really believe 
you were there," she exclaimed. "Some one 
told us you were going to take a peep at us 
incognito, but I did not see you." 

Without deigning to reply, Napoleon began 
an ungraceful imitation of the saraband, a 
dance that had been seen at this ball for the 
first time in St. Helena. The young lady who 
waltzed in this dance had been very awkward, 
and Napoleon's imitation of her movements 
was so perfect that the girls were sure he had 
really seen her. Moreover he had so many 



THOUGHTLESS BETSY 201 

accurate criticisms to make of the people at 
the ball, and of the ball in all its details, that 
no doubt was left in their minds that he had 
been an actual looker-on. 

Napoleon thoroughly appreciated the humor 
of others, and was much amused, for example, 
by a remark of Madame Bertrand's that he 
repeated to Betsy. 

Madame Bertrand's son, Arthur, was about 
a month old when Napoleon asked Betsy if 
she had seen the little fellow, adding, "You 
must hear the clever way in which Madame 
Bertrand introduced the baby to me: * Allow 
me to present to your Majesty a subject who 
has dared to enter the gates of Longwood 
without a pass from Sir Hudson Lowe.' ! 



CHAPTER XIII 

LONGWOOD DAYS 

MANY a time when in the company of 
Napoleon and the members of his 
suite, Betsy must have realized that 
this pleasant intercourse could not last always. 
Few people remained indefinitely long at 
St. Helena, few people, indeed, besides the 
natives and the one life prisoner, the Emperor 
Napoleon. Betsy, however, had no desire to 
leave her beloved island. She loved its climate 
and its scenery, and she was happy with the 
many people who were her friends. It was a 
gay little place, with numerous officers quar- 
tered there with their families, a much gayer 
place than it would have been had not the 
British Government thought it necessary to 
make it a great military stronghold for the 
safeguarding of the Emperor, a much gayer 
place than it had been before Napoleon's 
arrival. 



LONG WOOD DAYS 203 

Almost every day some form of amusement 
offered itself - - races, balls, picnics, and sham 
fights. There was also a pretty little theatre 
on the island, established by the popular 
Commissary General, where amateur plays 
were performed by the officers, to the great 
entertainment of all who saw them. 

Madame Montholon and Madame Bertrand 
and, to a certain extent, the gentlemen of the 
Emperor's suite entered more or less into the 
festivities of the place. It was only Napoleon 
who always stayed at home alone. Betsy, who 
was an especial favorite of Madame Bertrand, 
was often at Longwood, and very often the 
latter was the young girl's chaperon at balls 
or other entertainments. 

Yet even w r hen no special gayety was in 
view, Betsy enjoyed her visits to Longwood, 
and the ingenuous girl with her frank speech 
certainly brightened the lives of the exiles. 
As for Betsy herself it was a great advantage 
for her to be so much in the society of these 
French people, with their cultivation and 
gayety. On cool evenings chairs were brought 
out on the lawn leading to the billiard-room, 
and there the Countess of Montholon and 



204 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

Madame Bertrand, with their husbands and 
children, would spend the hour after sunset 
listening to the crickets, of which there were 
thousands. Sometimes they sat on the lawn in 
the moonlight, gazing long at the sky, which 
at St. Helena is of a peculiarly deep blue. 

Doubtless at such times the hearts of the 
poor exiles were far away among home scenes 
in France, and even lively Betsy for the time 
was quiet and subdued. 

One splendid starry night, as they were all 
on the lawn near the billiard-room steps after 
a very sultry day, they heard a sound as if 
heavy wagons were lumbering over the ground 
beneath. Those nearer the house thought that 
it was about to fall about their heads. Dr. 
O'Meara and Major Blakeney, Captain of the 
Guard, hastening from the room, expected to 
find the ladies half dead with fright. All the 
household, some from their beds, rushed out, 
looking wonderingly into the sky, and little 
Tristram Montholon ran to his mother, scream- 
ing that some one had tried to throw him out 
of his bed. 

This was in September, and the strange 
rumbling was caused by an earthquake, the 



LONG WOOD DAYS 205 

first one in St. Helena for a long time. Many 
feared for their friends in the valleys with the 
sharp precipices, but fortunately in the end it 
was shown that there had been no loss of life. 

Napoleon was in bed at the time of the 
shock. 

"Ah Mees Betsee," he asked the next 
morning, "were you frightened by the trem- 
blement de terre ? You look pale and quiet." 

Betsy admitted that she had had a little 
fear at the earthquake. 

"I thought," said Napoleon, turning to 
General Bertrand, "that the Conqueror had 
blown up in the harbor; but the second or 
third shock showed that it was an earthquake." 

The Conqueror was the seventy-four gun 
ship whose arrival Betsy had seen Napoleon 
observe with great interest. 

Betsy, for several nights after the earth- 
quake, was too frightened to go to bed, and 
in a day or two she was ill with a severe cold, 
caught while sitting on the veranda. In this 
case, as always in illness, Napoleon was sym- 
pathetic, blaming the climate and adding that 
the houses ought to have plenty of fireplaces 
to protect people from sudden changes. 



206 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

"What would be the use of fireplaces," 
asked Betsy, "when we have no coals?" 

"Then burn the orange trees," responded 
Napoleon. 

From this remark Betsy saw that for some 
reason the Emperor was not in good humor, 
for he was one of those who realized the need 
of more trees on St. Helena, and later if he 
had not then begun devoted much time and 
money to planting trees in the neighborhood 
of Longwood. Perhaps the presence of the 
Conqueror in the harbor disturbed him, since 
this was the vessel that had brought Admiral 
Pamplin, who was to relieve Admiral Malcom. 
Sir Pultney Malcom had come to St. Helena 
with Napoleon, and the two had grown to be 
very good friends. The Admiral, a courteous 
old man, with exquisite, kindly manners, 
showed great consideration for the exile. He 
paid Napoleon many visits, sent him news- 
papers, and so far as he could tried to protect 
him from various annoying things said or 
done by Governor Lowe. 

It was not strange, then, that Napoleon 
should feel depressed at the thought of Ad- 
miral Malcom's departure, and, in conse- 



LONG WOOD DAYS 207 

quence, seem a little more brusque than usual 
with Betsy in talking of her cold. 

Napoleon well understood the value of reg- 
ular occupation and spent many hours daily 
in reading and writing. He had few of the 
works of reference that he needed for his 
historical work, yet he persevered in spite of 
all difficulties. In the end he really had 
something to show, volumes of military com- 
mentaries, essays on great generals and his- 
torical sketches, chiefly of the time of the 
French Republic. These writings may not all 
be perfectly accurate, but they show a won- 
derful memory and grasp of facts. The inac- 
curacies, indeed, are chiefly such as must 
result when a man writes without the proper 
documents and books to verify his statements. 

The Memoirs left by Napoleon, the many 
volumes of conversations collected by his 
friends on subjects of general interest, as well 
as those books that relate to the military pro- 
fession, show the wonderful strength of his 
mind. His temperate habits were, of course, 
a great help in carrying out the broad plans 
that he made for hard work. He took little 
wine, and then only used it as a medicine. 



208 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

Napoleon's hours for rising and going to 
bed were very irregular. Often on moonlight 
nights he would rise at three o'clock, and 
when at The Briars he would go to the gar- 
den before Toby was up, getting the key from 
the place where the old slave had hidden it. 
He would then have an early breakfast of 
fresh fruits. 

Not infrequently, in those early days of his 
stay at St. Helena, Betsy would see him in the 
early morning riding around the lawn on his 
beautiful horse Hope, and when she talked 
with him she would learn that already he had 
that day dictated a number of letters. Hope 
was the first horse Napoleon rode on the 
island, and it pleased him to think that this 
name was an augury. 

When it came to his bed hour, Napoleon's 
habits were most uncertain. Frequently, when 
he was restless, he would have Marchand 
read him to sleep. 

At times when he was ill he resented the 
doctor's efforts to get him to take medicine. 
He had original ideas on the best treatment of 
the sick, and believed strongly in the efficacy 
of the salt-water bath. 



LONG WOOD DAYS 209 

However heterodox his views on any sub- 
ject, Napoleon seldom hesitated to express 
them, at least to those in whom he had con- 
fidence. 

"I have no faith whatever in medicine," 
said Napoleon one day to a very clever med- 
ical man who was on the island. "My own 
remedies are starvation and the warm bath. 
Churchmen," he added, "are often hypo- 
crites, because too much is expected of them. 
Politicians must have a conventional con- 
science, and soldiers are cut-throats and rob- 
bers. But surgeons are neither too good nor 
too bad; their mission is to benefit mankind, 
and they have opportunities to study human 
nature as well as science. I have a higher 
opinion of the surgical profession than of any 
other. The practice of the law," he concluded, 
"is too severe for poor human nature, for he 
who distorts truth and exults at the success 
of injustice at last will hardly know right 
from wrong." 

Napoleon liked sailors, and often talked 
with those who conducted fatigue parties 
around the island. 



210 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

One day he asked the girls if they had met 
one active young reefer, who happened to be- 
long to a distinguished family. 

"He is one of the few combinations of 
high birth and intelligence I have ever 
seen." 

"We know him," was the reply, "and he is 
one of the most popular men in the ward- 
room. Oh, how funny he was when we first 
knew him!" added Betsy. "He was coming 
back from the Admiral's ball. We met an old 
cart, and he was surrounded by brother mid- 
dies, all shouting, 'Lord W.'s carriage stops 
the way.' Well, we couldn't get past, as the 
cart had been dragged inside the arch through 
which we were to pass. Afterwards this same 
young man had a narrow escape. He was 
rowing guard when hailed by sentry. On ac- 
count of the surf, the sentry could not hear 
him give the password, and so he fired among 
the crew." 

'Yes, he can do anything. Sir Pultney 
Malcom put him in charge of the government 
farm, and said he had never seen such vege- 
tables produced on the sterile rocks of St. 
Helena." 



LONG WOOD DAYS 211 

"Whatever British sailors take in hand," 
said Napoleon, "they never leave undone." 

A marble bust of the King of Rome was 
sent to Napoleon, probably by Maria Louisa. 
Napoleon gazed on it with proud satisfaction 
and he seemed pleased with the praises of 
Betsy and her mother. 

'You ought to be proud to be the father 
of so beautiful a boy," said Mrs. Balcombe. 

Smiles lit Napoleon's face, and Betsy, child 
though she was, was impressed by his expres- 
sion of paternal fondness. 

The bust was of white marble and executed 
by Caracci, and it bore the names Napoleon 
Fran9ois Charles Joseph. The child was shown 
wearing the Grand Cross of the Legion of 
Honor. It had been brought from Leghorn 
by the gunner of a ship bound to St. Helena, 
and although it had come so mysteriously, 
people generally understood that Maria Louisa 
herself had taken the trouble to have it sent 
in this way to Napoleon, her husband. 

"Now, come," said Madame Bertrand, after 
the sisters had spent some time admiring Na- 
poleon's gifts, "let me show you my presents;" 



212 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

for the ship that had brought the bust 
brought things also to others of the French 
exiles. These were chiefly for Countess Ber- 
trand and Countess Montholon from Lady 
Holland, who often remembered them in 
this way. 

"La bonne Lady Holland," as Napoleon 
called her, was one of the few English women 
not afraid to show her sympathy with Napoleon 
and those who had followed him to St. Helena. 
He was very grateful for her attentions to him 
now when he was abandoned by the world. 
"All members of the family of Fox," he 
said, "abound in liberal, generous sentiments. 
Fox was sincere in his intentions, and had he 
lived England would not have been devastated 
by war. He was the only minister who rightly 
understood the interests of his country." To 
show that he had always appreciated Fox, 
Napoleon told of a visit that the latter with 
his wife paid to St. Cloud. By mistake he 
opened the door of a private room, and he 
was surprised to see there his own statue 
among those of distinguished citizens of the 
world, Hampden, Washington, Cicero, Lord 
Chatham and his son. 



LONG WOOD DAYS 213 

The regulation that an officer must accom- 
pany him on his rides was a continued annoy- 
ance to Napoleon. At first he submitted, and 
rode off, painfully realizing that a representa- 
tive of his jailers constantly kept his eye on 
him. After a time he decided that he would 
not ride if he could not ride alone, and during 
the last four years of his life he was not on a 
horse. As he had depended on riding for ex- 
ercise during the greater part of his life, he 
now suffered from giving it up. He not only 
began to grow extremely stout, but his general 
health became poorer. 

It disturbed Napoleon greatly that the Eng- 
lish always addressed him as "General Bona- 
parte." The title " Emperor" would have been 
so barren on St. Helena that it is hard to 
understand why Napoleon should have cared 
much about it. He might easily have been as 
philosophic about this as he was about other 
things. 

Soon after his arrival Sir Hudson Lowe 
addressed a card of invitation to "General 
Bonaparte." 

"Send this card to General Bonaparte," 
said Napoleon to Count Bertrand. "The last 



214 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

I heard of him was at the Pyramids and Mt. 
Tabor." Yet Napoleon was never happier, 
never better loved by the French people, than 
when, as General Bonaparte, he was received 
with the greatest enthusiasm on his return 
from his Italian campaign. 

The English, on their part, were foolish in 
objecting to the use of a title to which he once 
had had a perfect right, with all its power and 
dignity. Now, deprived of the substance, there 
was no reason for forbidding him the pleasure 
of treasuring the shadow. Sir George Cock- 
burn seems to have been almost childish in 
writing to Count Bertrand: 

"I have no cognizance of any Emperor 
being actually upon this island, or of any 
person possessing such dignity (as stated by 
you) having come here." 

Language like this was far more absurd 
than Napoleon's obstinacy on the subject. 
Even his good friend, Admiral Malcom, could 
not change his views. In the course of a 
conversation on the subject of letting him have 
the title "Emperor," Malcom said decidedly: 

"Still, it would be impossible to treat you 
as a sovereign." 



LONGWOOD DAYS 215 

"Why, they might leave me my honors to 
amuse me. It would do no harm on this 
rock." 

"But you would have to be styled Emperor." 

"No; they could not do that. I have abdi- 
cated." 

"But you object to be called General." 

"That is because I am no longer a general, 
- not since I returned from Egypt, but why 
not call me * Napoleon ' ?" 

It was a long and painful discussion, and 
it did not end even with Napoleon's death. 
The British Government, since Napoleon was 
securely in its power, could have afforded to 
let him wear the title that had once been his 
by right, even though on St. Helena it would 
have shown itself an almost foolishly vain 
ornament. The foreign Commissioners were 
told by the countries that they represented 
to give him this title, but the Act of Parlia- 
ment dealing with the distinguished prisoner 
had called him "Napoleon Bonaparte," and 
this, or "General Bonaparte," he was to 
be to all who had dealings with him at 
St. Helena. 

Within his own circle and in this circle 



216 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

the Balcombe family may be included he 
was ever "the Emperor." 

Napoleon often showed great kindness to 
the sick. For example, when a certain officer, 
Captain Meynell, was ill under Mr. Balcombe's 
roof at The Briars, Napoleon sent Cipriani, 
his maitre d'lwtel, daily to inquire about him, 
and seemed really concerned when he asked 
about him. 

Not long after he left The Briars, Betsy had 
a severe illness. When Napoleon heard of this 
he sent constantly to inquire for her, and the 
messenger usually brought her some delicacy 
made by Piron. 

Napoleon's kindness of heart was also shown 
by his attitude toward the Malay slave, named 
Toby, who had care of the beautiful garden 
at The Briars. When no one was in it the 
garden was kept locked and the key was left 
in Toby's hands. Toby and Napoleon speedily 
became friends, and the black man always 
spoke of the Emperor as "that good man, 
Bony." He always placed the key of the gar- 
den where Napoleon could reach it under the 
wicket. The black man was original and en- 



LONGWOOD DAYS 217 

tertaining, and so autocratic that no one at 
The Briars ever disputed his authority. His 
story was rather pathetic. 

He had been enticed from his native place 
many years before, brought to St. Helena by 
the English, smuggled on shore and illegally 
sold as a slave, let out to whoever would hire 
him, and his earnings chiefly appropriated to 
his master. Napoleon perhaps recognized in 
Toby a kindred spirit, or at least felt a common 
bond in the fact that both had been brought 
unwillingly to the island. Certainly he liked 
him, and, when he had heard his story, wished 
to buy and free him. But for political reasons, 
when Mr. Balcombe made Napoleon's wishes 
known to Sir Hudson Lowe, he could not get 
his consent. 

Toby, however, was grateful to Napoleon 
for his wish to help him, and continued his 
devoted admirer. On going from The Briars, 
Napoleon presented Toby with twenty-nine 
napoleons and always inquired for his health. 
When Napoleon left The Briars, Toby often 
arranged bouquets and fruits to go to Long- 
wood, - "to that good man, Bony." 

Toby, from all accounts, was an attractive 



218 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

fellow. His countenance had a frank and 
benevolent expression. His eyes were ani- 
mated and sparkling, his aspect not abject, 
but prepossessing. So at least he appeared to 
Betsy, and one day she was interested to hear 
Napoleon reflecting upon him: 

"What, after all, is a poor prisoner but a 
machine? As for poor Toby, he endures his 
misfortunes very quietly; he stoops to his 
work, and spends his days in innocent tran- 
quillity. This man, after all, had his family 
and his happiness and his liberty, and it was 
a horrible act of cruelty to bring him here to 
languish in the fetters of his slavery." 

Toby, however, was not the only slave on 
St. Helena. Not long after the first discovery 
of the island by the Portuguese, Juan Denova 
Castella, a nobleman, was exiled there for 
desertion and had to spend four years in 
complete solitude, except for a few slaves that 
he was allowed to have with him. The Por- 
tuguese did not colonize St. Helena, and after 
a time the Dutch held it for many years. 
When they had deserted it, the East India 
Company, with plenty of capital, took posses- 
sion and naturally fell back on slave labor to 



LONG WOOD DAYS 219 

cultivate the fields. When the Dutch saw that 
St. Helena was likely to prove profitable to 
the English they tried to get it back again, 
but the effort was unsuccessful, and since 1666 
it has been counted an English possession. 
At one time a law was passed restricting the 
importation of slaves, for the colonists had 
begun to fear that they might outnumber the 
Europeans. There was, however, an old law 
that every Madagascar ship should leave one 
slave to work the company's plantations. 
The slaves were often troublesome, but the 
cruelty with which they were treated was in- 
excusable. Probably many a poor creature on 
the island had been stolen from his home, 
just as we know poor Toby had been stolen. 

After the arrival of Sir Hudson Lowe, the 
new Governor reminded the people of St. 
Helena that their island was the last British 
possession to retain slavery. Various plans 
were proposed for doing away with it, and at 
last, at his suggestion, it was agreed that after 
Christmas Day, 1818, all children born of 
slave women should be considered free. 
Thus the great evil gradually ceased. 

This good action on the part of Sir Hudson 



220 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

Lowe that he helped gain freedom for the 
slaves made him no better liked by Na- 
poleon and his friends. From the first, indeed, 
the Governor was suspicious of Napoleon's 
friends, and the fear that they were plotting 
for Napoleon's escape was one of the reasons, 
probably, for the regulations that greatly an- 
noyed Napoleon. It seemed as if he wished 
Napoleon to be surrounded entirely by Eng- 
lish, for one of his early acts was to tell the 
French that they were at liberty to leave St. 
Helena whenever they wished. Every facility, 
he said, would be offered them to return to 
Europe. Had he known human nature better, 
Sir Hudson Lowe would have realized that 
persons who had given up so much to follow 
Napoleon would hardly desert him merely 
because conditions on the island did not suit 
them. 

At last, on one pretext or another, he con- 
trived to have several of Napoleon's attend- 
ants sent away, Santini, the clever little 
lamplighter, the jack-of-all-trades, who had 
so often amused Betsy's small brothers with 
his toys; Rousseau, his artificer; and Archam- 
baud, his coachman, whose reckless driving 



LONG WOOD DAYS 221 

of the jaunting car always struck terror to 
Betsy's heart. Most important of all, however, 
was the departure of Count Las Cases, who 
had never failed to frown on Betsy's hoyden- 
ish pranks. With Count Las Cases went his 
son, the boy about whom Napoleon had loved 
to tease Betsy. It was before the end of Na- 
poleon's first year at Longwood that these two 
were sent away on the charge of bribing a 
young native of St. Helena to carry a letter 
to Europe for them. This would not have been 
a serious offence, except for the reason that 
the Governor had made a regulation that no 
letter should be sent to Europe without passing 
through his hands. 

For a time Las Cases and his son were in 
prison on the island. Later they were de- 
spatched to the Cape of Good Hope, where 
they were detained seven months and at last 
sent to England. 

"Let them take away all my Frenchmen," 
said Napoleon sadly, after the departure of 
Las Cases. "I do not want them." He 
especially missed Las Cases, since it was to 
him that he daily dictated the material for 
his Memoirs. 



222 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

Not long after the departure of Las Cases, 
Napoleon was greatly disturbed because the 
Governor would not let him receive a visit 
from a botanist just arrived from Europe, who 
was known lately to have seen Maria Louisa 
and the little King of Rome. Betsy sympa- 
thized with him in his indignation at this and 
other needless restrictions. 

Sometimes, however, she felt like laughing 
at him. 

"Where is the Emperor, where is the Em- 
peror?" she asked one morning, when staying 
at Longwood after a ball. 

At first no one could inform her, but at last 
someone said, "Go over there; he is building 
a ditch." 

Going in the direction indicated, the young 
girl found Napoleon superintending the build- 
ing of a trench that he was having constructed, 
so that he might have a place where he could 
walk unobserved. 

"Do not laugh!" he said, after Betsy had 
come upon him, standing with folded arms 
and downcast gaze. "Do not laugh! I must 
have a walk of my own, where no one can 
look at me when I go out." 



LONGWOOD DAYS 223 

Even though she smiled, Betsy understood 
Napoleon's feeling. In his early days at The 
Briars, when he was permitted to walk out 
unattended, Napoleon was fond of strolling 
some distance from the cottage. Later when 
he could not go far without the watchful eye 
of an officer upon him, he almost gave up 
walking. At a certain hour of the afternoon, 
as it was known that he took a short walk 
along a straight path not far from the house, 
the curious often stationed themselves at a 
distance where they could observe him. On 
account of this annoying observation, Napo- 
leon conceived the plan of digging a ditch 
or trench. The ditch served at least one pur- 
pose: while it was digging it gave Napoleon 
plenty of occupation in directing the workmen. 
When it was finished it is said that he never 
used it as a promenade. 

His unwillingness to take exercise resulted 
in a serious illness. During this time Betsy 
and her sister did not see him, but whenever 
they met Dr. O'Meara they eagerly questioned 
him about their friend. "I would rather die 
at once than walk, as you prescribe." These 
were the words of Napoleon that Dr. O'Meara 



224 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

reported to the sisters. "I have tried persua- 
sion of every kind, but I cannot get him to 
take exercise," he said, "although I have told 
him that this is the only thing that can 
possibly cure him. I urged him to let me call 
in another surgeon, so that if he should grow 
no better, too much blame need not fall on 
me, and what was his reply ? " 

Dr. O'Meara paused for a moment, and 
then repeated Napoleon's exact words: "If all 
the physicians in the world were collected, 
they would but repeat what you have already 
advised me to take constant exercise on 
horseback. I am well aware of the truth of 
what you say, but if I were to call in another 
surgeon, it would be like sending a physician 
to a starving man instead of giving him a loaf 
of bread. I have no objection to your making 
known to him my state of health, if it be any 
satisfaction to you; but I know that he will 
say, 'Exercise.' As long as this strict surveil- 
lance is enforced, I will never stir." 

In vain Dr. O'Meara repeated his ar- 
guments. Napoleon had but one reply, 
"Would you have me render myself liable 
to insult from the sentries surrounding my 



LONG WOOD DAYS 225 

house, as Madame Bertrand was, some days 
ago?" 

"Jane," said Betsy, who always saw the 
funny side of things, "what a fine carica- 
ture this would have made for the London 
print shops Napoleon stopped at the gates 
by a sentinel, charging him with a fixed 
bayonet! How the Londoners would laugh! 
No, I don't blame Napoleon for staying in- 
doors." 

But when Betsy saw the Emperor after this 
illness, her heart was filled with pity. His skin 
was a waxy yellow and his cheeks hung in 
deep pouches. His ankles were terribly swollen, 
and he could not stand without the support of 
a table on one side and the shoulder of an 
attendant on the other. 

As Betsy looked at him, tears fell from her 
eyes and she could hardly keep from sobbing 
aloud. 

"Ah!" said Napoleon kindly. "Do not cry, 
Mees Betsee. I am almost well and the 
good O'Meara will surely cure me." 

Upon this Betsy became more cheerful, but 
later, when they were out of the Emperor's 
hearing, Mrs. Balcombe shook her head sor- 



226 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

rowfully, as she turned to Betsy, saying, "He 
has the stamp of death on his brow." 

Had Napoleon been less obstinate, within 
the eight miles of enclosure allotted him he 
might certainly have taken enough exercise of 
various kinds to preserve his health. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE PARTING 

AT last the time came when Napoleon 
and his young neighbor must part. The 
health of Betsy's mother, Mrs. Bal- 
combe, was not good, and the family decided 
to go home to England. Mr. Balcombe ob- 
tained six months' leave, but, although the 
family professed to expect to return, in their 
secret hearts they felt that they were bidding 
good-bye to St. Helena. 

A day or two before sailing Betsy and Jane 
went over to Longwood to say farewell to 
Napoleon. They found him in the billiard- 
room, as usual, surrounded by books. There 
was sadness in his voice as he talked about 
their departure. 

"I hope your mother's health will soon be 
restored," he said. "Give her my kindest re- 
gards and best wishes for the journey. Soon 
you will be sailing away towards England, 



228 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

leaving me to die on this miserable rock. 
Look at those dreadful mountains they are 
my prison walls. You will soon hear that the 
Emperor Napoleon is dead." 

At these melancholy words the emotional 
Betsy burst into tears and Jane's eyes grew 
moist. Betsy sobbed as if her heart would 
break, and Napoleon, greatly moved, tried to 
comfort her. Betsy felt for her handkerchief, 
only to find that she had left it in her side- 
saddle pocket. So Napoleon, holding his own 
toward her, said, "Take it, and keep it in 
remembrance of this sad day." 

The sisters went the rounds of Longwood, 
bidding good-bye to all that was dear to them. 
Later they dined with Napoleon, but Betsy 
was still so overcome with grief that she could 
hardly swallow. 

"Take some bonbons," said Napoleon 
kindly. 

"I cannot," she cried. "My throat has a 
swelling, and I cannot eat!" 

When at last they were ready to go, the 
Emperor embraced the two sisters with great 
affection. 

"Do not forget me!" he said. "I thank 



THE PARTING 229 

you for your kindness and friendship, and all 
my happy hours in your society." 

The two sisters could hardly reply. 

"Mees Betsee," he added, after a moment's 
pause, "what would you like to have in 
remembrance ? " 

"A lock of your hair," sobbed the young 
girl, "better than anything else." 

"Marchand shall bring the scissors, then;" 
and the devoted Marchand, promptly obey- 
ing, severed four locks for the four older 
members of the Balcombe family. 

Not long before they left, Napoleon in a 
conversation with Mr. Balcombe said: 

"I fear that your resignation of your em- 
ployment in this island is caused by the quar- 
rels and annoyances drawn upon you by the 
relation established between your family and 
Longwood, in consequence of the hospitality 
which you showed on my first arrival in St. 
Helena. I would not wish you to regret having 
known me." 

Although Mr. Balcombe did not exactly 
confirm what Napoleon said about the reason 
for his withdrawal from St. Helena, he knew 
that to a great extent it was true. For a long 



230 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

time Sir Hudson Lowe had been dissatisfied 
with the intimacy existing between Napoleon 
and the Balcombes. While he admitted that 
he had no tangible cause for complaint, he 
was constantly watching for one, and was 
always ready to call Mr. Balcombe to ac- 
count for what he considered partiality for 
the illustrious exile. As the Governor himself 
put it, he was not without suspicion that his 
relations with Longwood were not limited to 
the ostensible duties of his office. The Gov- 
ernor at this time was very suspicious of Dr. 
O'Meara, and as Mr. Balcombe and he were 
intimate friends, the former was naturally 
regarded also with disfavor. 

More than once had Betsy's careless be- 
havior drawn a reprimand upon her father. 
But for the Governor's feeling against him, 
Mr. Balcombe and his family might have 
been on St. Helena during the last sad days 
of Napoleon. 

As it was, they went back to England the 
middle of March, 1818, little more than three 
years before Napoleon's death. Their ship 
was the Winchelsea store-ship, on its way 
from China, and on the same vessel went 



THE PARTING 231 

General Gorgaud, the bachelor of Napoleon's 
suite, a pompous, though brave man, for 
whom Betsy had no especial liking. General 
Gorgaud knew that he would never return to 
St. Helena. Mr. Balcombe had obtained a 
six months' leave from his official duties, but 
he, too, may have felt as the vessel sailed away 
that he was unlikely ever again to look upon 
its frowning walls. 

As to Betsy, Napoleon's young neighbor, 
the tears that fell from her eyes when she said 
her last good-bye to the Emperor were not 
the last that she shed for him. As the years 
went by she ever listened eagerly to all the 
news that came from St. Helena, until the 
final mournful tidings in the early summer of 
1821, that Napoleon had died on the fifth of 
May. 

"I am sure," said Betsy long afterwards, 
"after seeing Napoleon in every possible mood 
and in his most unguarded moments, I know 
that the idea of acting a part never entered 
his head. I had the most complete conviction 
of his want of guile, and the thorough good- 
ness and amiability of his heart." 

Betsy was a keen observer of human nature, 



232 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

and another of her judgments is worth re- 
membering: "That this impression of his 
amiability and goodness was common to al- 
most all who approached him is proved by 
the devotion of his followers at St. Helena. 
They had then nothing more to expect from 
him, and only entailed misery on themselves 
by adhering to his fortunes." 

It is indeed a fact worth remembering, that 
Napoleon's suite, in spite of the fact that to 
a great extent Napoleon obliged them to prac- 
tise the rigid etiquette of a court, were all 
devoted to him. It is true that they had to 
stand in his presence and in certain ways 
keep up a ceremony that seemed absurd in 
an establishment as simple as that of Long- 
wood; but there were many hours of relaxa- 
tion. In these hours of relaxation Napoleon 
played cards with his friends, or chess, or - 
after he went to Longwood --billiards. He 
was fond of reading aloud, and not infre- 
quently favored his friends with a long read- 
ing. Sometimes he indulged in declamation, 
for he was rather proud of the fact that he 
had learned something of this art from the 
great Talma. In his later years at Longwood 



THE PARTING 233 

he devised ways of getting his needed exercise 
indoors and worked almost too vigorously at 
gardening. 

An old St. Helena newspaper has an ac- 
count of his exertions in his garden, not long 
before his death, which has a pathos of its 
own: "A few weeks before his death the 
Emperor labored with a spade in his garden 
so long and so severely as to be faint with 
fatigue. Some one suggested the probable in- 
jury to his health. 'No,' said he, 'it cannot 
injure my health; that is lost beyond all hope. 
It will but shorten my days." 

The disease from which Napoleon died was 
one that he had inherited from his father, - 
one, indeed, for which there is no cure. So it 
cannot be said with certainty that his life 
might have been prolonged if he had been 
more careful to get enough, and only enough, 
of the right kind of exercise. Yet though his 
life may have had to run in its natural course, 
his last years would have been much happier 
if there had been no friction between him and 
the Governor of St. Helena. 

The last three years of Napoleon's life were 
undoubtedly the loneliest he had known. He 



234 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

missed Las Cases, Gorgaud, the Balcombes, 
and O'Meara, whom the Governor was at last 
able to get out of the way. Napoleon kept 
himself busy with his gardening and his books, 
and when, in 1819, the Government began to 
build a new house for him, he spent much 
time watching its progress, although with true 
forebodings he often said that he should never 
live to occupy it. 

He still refused to take exercise, and once 
in a fit of depression stayed in the house for 
three months. Thus his health continued to 
suffer and he grew stout and clumsy. When 
he did go out he was apt to drive around the 
eight miles of his enclosure at breakneck 
speed, in a carriage drawn by six horses. In 
October, 1820, he sent word to Sir William 
Doveton that he would be glad to breakfast 
with him. Sir William was, of course, happy 
to receive his distinguished guest, and break- 
fast was served on the lawn to Napoleon and 
Generals Bertrand and Montholon. The 
breakfast in the society of Sir William Dove- 
ton and his family passed off pleasantly, and 
Napoleon started to walk home. Unluckily 
he had not the strength to carry out his good 



THE PARTING 235 

intentions, and on the way back to Longwood 
he had to stop at a cottage by the way to rest, 
while his carriage was sent for. 

Betsy would have been glad, if the fact had 
ever come to her ears, to learn that in his last 
year or two Napoleon had another little friend 
who to a certain degree could fill the place in 
his affections always ready for children. This 
was the young daughter of a soldier of the 
garrison, little Julia, nine years old, who was 
intelligent and companionable. 

When he knew that Julia was coming to 
see him, Napoleon always had fruits and 
sweetmeats ready for her. Not long before he 
died he hung a gold watch and chain around 
Julia's neck, saying, "Wear this for my sake." 
On the cover he had scratched an inscription 
with his penknife, "The Emperor to his 
little friend Julia." When she visited him 
they sat or walked in the garden, and Napo- 
leon found some amusement in giving her 
drawing lessons from nature. One fine morn- 
ing in April, when Julia appeared, Napoleon 
invited her inside the house where the break- 
fast table was laid. Standing by the table, he 
filled her little basket with fruit and sweet 



236 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

things, and at last put a bottle of wine in the 
basket, saying, "For your father to drink my 
health in." 

Alas! it was too late for any one to wish 
Napoleon good health. Not long after he had 
suggested the toast for Julia's father, he had 
to go to bed. Whatever others thought, he 
was sure that he would never rise. He prob- 
ably knew that the end was near. The very 
end came suddenly, and many on St. Helena, 
who had not known of the seriousness of his 
condition, were greatly surprised to hear of 
his death on the fifth of May. 

Before the funeral Napoleon's body lay in 
state, and naval and military officers and 
many others were permitted to view it. When 
Sir Hudson Lowe looked at Napoleon imme- 
diately after his death, he was impressed by 
the nobility of the dead man's expression. 
"His face in death," he wrote to Lord Bath- 
urst, "was the most beautiful I have ever 
seen." Yet even to the dead Napoleon the 
Governor maintained the same attitude as to 
the living, for when it came to the question 
of the inscription to be placed on the Em- 
peror's coffin, he would not permit the simple 



THE PARTING 237 

"Napoleon" with dates and places of birth 
and death, but insisted that in addition it 
should bear the surname "Bonaparte." 

British soldiers carried Napoleon from the 
house to the car that was to bear him to the 
burial place; but the horses that drew the car 
were four that had belonged to the late Em- 
peror. Orders had been issued to conduct his 
funeral as that of a general of the highest 
rank. In consequence the left side of the road 
from Longwood to the grave was lined with 
troops. It was a solemn and impressive pro- 
cession that moved along as escort, paying the 
last earthly honors to Napoleon, on whose 
coffin lay his sword and the mantle of Marengo. 

Napoleon had always wished to be buried 
in France, but toward the end of his life, 
when it seemed unlikely that his wish could 
be gratified, he gave directions as to the spot 
in St. Helena that he preferred. This was a 
romantic and picturesque enclosure in a ra- 
vine not very far from Longwood. Often, 
when out walking, the Emperor had stopped 
there to quench his thirst at a small spring. 
The little valley was shaded with Norfolk 
pines, firs, and other trees, and here, near the 



238 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

spring, under the shade of two great willow 
trees, Napoleon's body was laid to rest. As 
it was lowered into the grave three discharges 
from eleven pieces of musketry were fired. 

As his sorrowing attendants turned away, 
how overwhelmingly sad must the reflections 
of the two of Napoleon's personal suite have 
been! Only Montholon and Bertrand were 
there at the last, though Marchand and other 
attendants still remained. Montholon, when 
a boy of ten, had known Napoleon in Corsica, 
and Bertrand had long been one of his offi- 
cers, "the best engineer officer I have ever 
known," said Napoleon. 

Now their years of faithful devotion were 
at an end. With heavy hearts they turned 
their backs on the lonely grave under the 
willow trees and soon they sailed away to the 
great world, their hearts filled with memories 
of Napoleon. 

Nineteen years after Napoleon's death a 
French frigate, La Belle Poule, commanded 
by the Prince of Joinville, arrived off James- 
town. The wheel had turned, and the friends 
and admirers of Napoleon were on top. 

Even Great Britain was not unwilling that 



THE PARTING 239 

the dead Napoleon should have the honor 
that was his due. The frigate had come for 
the body of Napoleon to give it proper honors 
in France. On La Belle Poule were Count 
Bertrand, his son Arthur, born at St. Helena, 
General Gorgaud, the young Las Cases, and 
the faithful Marchand. 

The body of Napoleon was taken from the 
tomb under the willow trees and borne back 
to France. Every one knows of the magnificent 
funeral given their dead hero by the impulsive 
French. Every one has heard how countless 
throngs filled the streets of Paris, how the 
military display has seldom been equalled, as 
the catafalque, preceded by a riderless horse, 
went slowly along the tree-lined boulevards. 
The wonderful tomb of Napoleon in the Hotel 
des Invalides is known to many, but there are 
few in comparison who have visited the little 
enclosure at the bottom of the deep ravine 
where the Emperor's body lay for a score of 
years. Yet, in the days of wooden ships, when 
St. Helena was the place where captains had 
to call to re-provision their vessels, many a 
passenger on going ashore hastened to Napo- 
leon's grave, and while the world stands the 



240 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

secluded valley will continue to claim the 
interest of Napoleon's admirers. The vault 
itself is now covered with a broad, flat stone, 
without inscription, and its cemented surface 
is cracked in places. There is a hedge around 
the fence and a sentry box at the entrance of 
the enclosure. Here there is a notice to the 
effect that the grave is now the property of 
the French Republic, and in the sentry box 
an attendant keeps a book and registers the 
names of all who visit the spot where once lay 
the body of Napoleon. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE PANORAMA 

WHO can blame Betsy for being heavy- 
hearted on that day in early spring 
when she sailed away from St. Helena, 
toward the colder country that was her real 
home ? Even though her parents and her 
brothers and sister were with her, she felt that 
she was leaving behind much that was dear. 
She loved the lonely, mountainous island 
where she had lived so long. She believed 
that no other flowers or fruits could equal those 
produced on its tropical soil. She felt that 
no new friends could compare with those from 
whom she had just parted. 

More than this, although she tried to per- 
suade herself that in the future she might 
revisit St. Helena, she could hardly believe 
that when that day arrived, Napoleon would 
still be there to receive her with his accus- 
tomed cordiality. 



242 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

Indeed, as a true friend of the Emperor's, 
Betsy could scarcely wish to find him there on 
that indefinite day of her return, since that 
would mean long-continued captivity for him. 
Rather, if she hoped to see him again, the 
young girl more probably imagined that after 
no very long time some change in the senti- 
ments of those in power might result in freeing 
him from his galling bondage. 

Though we to-day may not be certain just 
what form Betsy's thoughts took on that mo- 
notonous homeward voyage, we can be sure 
that Napoleon had no small part in them. Al- 
ready she knew the chief facts in his meteoric 
career ; and her vivid fancy must have 
brought before her many scenes in which he 
had had part. 

Like Betsy; you and I may see the panorama 
of Napoleon's life unfold in a series of pictures 
melting into one another, some clearer than 
the others, yet all leaving an ineffaceable 
impression. 

First, there is the thin, pale, serious-eyed 
boy running half wild over the hills of his 
native Corsica. He is an affectionate brother 
this young Napoleon to the six younger 



THE PANORAMA 243 

brothers and sisters, and a close companion 
of Joseph, only a year older. He is devoted 
to his high-spirited and energetic mother, 
once the beautiful Letitia Ramolino, whose 
life, since her marriage, has been so hard. 
He is dutiful to his father, the improvident, 
though ambitious Charles Marie de Buona- 
parte. Yet, although dutiful, he resents his 
father's lack of patriotism in seeking favors 
from the Frenchmen in authority in Corsica, 
for the boy, born only a year after Corsica 
had passed under French rule, had small 
love for those outsiders who had made it 
impossible for his native island to gain inde- 
pendence. 

One of our pictures would show us Na- 
poleon, a timid boy in the military school 
at Brienne, where his father had secured a 
place for him by showing he was of noble 
descent. The boy works hard at his tasks, 
his teachers commend his industry, while call- 
ing him reserved and obstinate. 

The young Napoleon is not happy in the 
society of his one hundred and twenty fellow- 
pupils, who, like himself, are supported by the 
Government at Brienne. They are largely 



244 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

the sons of poor nobles vain and indolent 
and they love to tease the timid boy. 

"I am tired of poverty and the jeers of in- 
solent scholars. If fortune refuses to smile 
upon me, take me from Brienne, and make me 
if you will a mechanic." In spite of this 
letter, the father wisely keeps the little boy at 
Brienne, and gradually he makes friends, espe- 
cially among the teachers. 

"I have seen a spark here which cannot be 
too carefully cultivated," writes the aged 
Chevalier de Keralio, an inspector of the 
school, who is anxious to have Napoleon sent 
to the military school at Paris. 

Our pictures are now painted in somewhat 
brighter colors. 

For although at Paris the young Napoleon 
is not perfectly contented, he knows that he is 
on the way to a modest independence. He is 
surrounded by foolish young men with whose 
extravagance he cannot keep up. But only 
his sympathetic sister Elizabeth at St. Cyr 
hears him complain of the difficulties that beset 
him. 

Napoleon is naturally happier when at the 
early age of sixteen he finds himself a second 



THE PANORAMA 245 

lieutenant in the army. He rejoices at the 
prospect of helping his family out of his 
meagre income of less than two hundred and 
fifty dollars a year. But his responsibility is 
suddenly increased when Charles Bonaparte, 
his father,, dies. The family is worse off than 
before, and when Joseph cannot straighten 
out their tangled affairs, Napoleon decides to 
undertake the task. 

After eight years of absence we see Napo- 
leon on leave from his regiment, returning 
to Corsica. He has hard work before him. 
There are four little children under nine, 
Louis, Pauline, Caroline, and Jerome, at home 
with their widowed mother. There are two, 
Lucien and Elizabeth, away at school. Only 
Joseph and Napoleon are on their feet, and 
on Napoleon, the stronger character, falls the 
brunt of the burden. 

When the young lieutenant goes back to the 
army he takes Louis with him. He tutors 
him in mathematics, he shares his all with him. 
He deprives himself of many things really 
necessary to his position in order to help his 
family. 

"I breakfast on dry bread," he writes. He 



46 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

stints himself for his family, he stints himself 
still further to have a little money for the books 
that he needs. 

The claims of the family are pressing. 
Again Napoleon has leave of absence. In 
Corsica he tries in vain to get something for 
his mother from what is left of their property, 
from salt works, from a mulberry plantation 
belonging to the estate. 

It is five or six years since the death of 
Charles Bonaparte c Napoleon has been away 
from his post too long. In 1792, after an 
absence from his regiment of fifteen months, 
he loses his place in the army. 

The picture now before us is a dark one. 
The young man is discouraged. Hardly 
knowing where to turn, he drifts toward Paris. 

For two or three years he has been uncertain 
which side to take in the Revolution on which 
France is entering. Many things incline him 
toward the King's party. He is in Paris on 
that memorable June 10 when the King is 
deposed. He sees the terrible events of the 
10th of August. While he sympathizes with 
the King, he perceives that the great question 
is one of the nation rather than the individual. 



THE PANORAMA 847 

Intelligent young men are greatly needed 
in the army. Napoleon's ability is known. 
He receives a captain's commission, signed 
by the King, though really given by the Revo- 
lutionary Government. Soon he is at Toulon, 
where, by acting on his advice, the French 
drive the English from the harbor in Decem- 
ber, 1793. 

The young man's prospects are brightening. 
There are only a few shadows on the picture. 
A revolution in Corsica drives his family to 
France, and while he feels his responsibility, 
Napoleon cannot yet do much for them. 

Napoleon's talents impress all who come in 
contact with him. The time approaches when 
he is to reap the reward for all his years of 
patient study. Young Robespierre calls at- 
tention to his transcendent merit. Though 
he is not a Terrorist, he has many friends in 
the party, and after the fall of Robespierre 
the young Corsican spends nearly a fortnight 
in prison. Once more he loses his place in 
the army, in which he has been commissioned 
General. Discouraged, with nothing to do in 
Paris, he thinks of accepting an office from 
the Sultan. But Fortune is soon to favor him 



248 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

again. Not so very long after his release 
from prison we gaze on a thrilling scene. It 
is the 13th Vendeniiaire, year III, or Octo- 
ber 15, 1795. The Directory under which the 
Government of France is now carried on has 
to face a revolt of the people and the National 
Guardo General Barras, who had observed 
Napoleon's great ability at Toulon, summons 
the young officer to help the Directory. Napo- 
leon orders the artillery to sweep the Sections. 

By this use of cannon, with fearful slaughter, 
the smaller force of the Government conquers 
the uprising. Next day Napoleon is men- 
tioned by the Commander-in-Chief for his dis- 
tinguished services, and shortly he becomes 
General-in-Chief of the Army of the Interior. 

Picture after picture passes quickly before 
us, and always Napoleon is in the foreground. 
We see him now for the first time really enjoy- 
ing society. The brusque and rather timid 
young officer is lionized in the drawing-room 
of Madame Tallien. There he meets the 
beautiful Josephine, widow of Alexandre de 
Beauharnais, and soon asks her to many him. 

It is said that Napoleon first became inter- 
ested in Josephine through her sending her 



THE PANORAMA 249 

son Eugene to ask him to secure for him the 
sword of his father who had been put to death 
during the Reign of Terror. But whether the 
story is true or not, certainly Napoleon always 
has the greatest affection for Eugene and his 
sister Hortense. Napoleon's family are now 
in Paris. They share equally in the prosperity 
that has come to him. He lavishes on his 
mother all that she will accept. It pains him 
that neither she nor his brothers and sisters 
are pleased with his marriage. 

Two days after the wedding, Napoleon 
leaves Josephine to cross the Apennines as 
Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Italy. 
We see the Italians running before those whom 
they had contemptuously called the "rag 
heroes." The French win victory after vic- 
tory. Arcola, Lodi, Milan eighteen pitched 
battles, forty-seven smaller engagements. 
Everywhere Napoleon is the idol, not only of 
his own soldiers, but of a large number of 
Italians, who hope through him to gain 
political liberty. 

When, after the Treaty of Campo Formio, 
Napoleon returns to Paris in December, 1797, 
France is at his feet, rejoicing in the glory 



250 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

that comes to her through victories, rejoicing 
in the treasures of art that the young con- 
queror had brought back to adorn the Paris 
museums. 

The scene changes Napoleon is setting 
out for Egypt. He hopes to weaken England 
by attacking her power in the East. He hopes 
to strengthen himself in the eyes of the French 
by winning new victories. For idolized 
though he is by the French people, he realizes 
their fickleness, and he knows that the Direct- 
ory is jealous of him. This expedition has not 
the brilliancy of the Italian campaign. He 
does not succeed in disabling the British, the 
French fleet meets fearful disaster. On land 
the French army suffers terribly from pesti- 
lence. But Napoleon has many scientific 
men with him on this expedition, and science 
gains greatly by this Egyptian campaign. 
Then by chance he learns that there is the 
utmost political discontent in France. Almost 
secretly he sails away from Egypt. We see 
him in Paris by the middle of October, 1799. 
His enemies are astonished. But Napoleon's 
hour has come. The famous coup d'etat 
follows, and in less than two months after his 



THE PANORAMA 251 

return from Egypt, Napoleon has become 
temporary Dictator of France. His title is 
First Consul, but many shake their heads and 
murmur that Napoleon, instead of serving the 
term prescribed by law, means to make him- 
self Consul for life. 

Yet whatever Napoleon's ambitions may be, 
it is clear that France needs a strong man at 
the head of the Government. Then as we 
observe the clear eye and firm bearing of the 
young Corsican, it is evident that no one abler 
than he can be found to direct the work of 
upbuilding the country. 

Our picture of France shows no longer a 
scene of confusion, of chaos, although much 
must be done before the Republic can hold her 
own except in war with other great nations. 

Napoleon is tired of war, but those Powers 
to whom he suggests peace are not ready to 
accept his overtures. They are more willing 
to listen to him after his Austrian campaign, 
when Marengo and Luneville are added to 
the French victories. 

The Peace of Amiens gives Europe a breath- 
ing spell for no one believes that this peace 
will last forever. 



252 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

Perhaps among all our pictures of Napoleon 
there is hardly one more pleasing than this of 
his First Consulate, when we see him walking 
among his gorgeously attired officers, notice- 
able for the simplicity of his attire. For in spite 
of the example of extravagant dress set by 
others, he is content with the plain uniform of 
a colonel of grenadiers or of the light infantry. 

"His address is the finest I have ever seen," 
writes one who meets him at this time, "and 
said by those who have travelled to exceed not 
only every Prince and Potentate now in being, 
but even all those whose memory has come 
down to us. ... While he speaks, his features 
are still more expressive than his words." 

This is the Napoleon whom Betsy knew - 
this man whose simple, pleasing manners 
drew every one to him every one at least 
whom he wished to attract. Had he cared to 
make the effort he might even have won Sir 
Hudson Lowe. 

For in those earlier days, before his down- 
fall, many an Englishman, with a deeply rooted 
prejudice against Napoleon, on visiting Paris, 
like the writer of the above, found his preju- 
dices melt away like snow in summer. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE LAST PICTURES 

OUR pictures change little as they show 
the next stage of Napoleon's progress. 
For when in the summer of 1801 he is 
made Consul for life, he appears still to be the 
same ardent lover of liberty that he was when 
he became First Consul. He is still the idol of 
the French people as well he may be for 
what ruler has ever done so much for them ? 
When once things are in his own hands he 
codifies the laws, gives security to all forms of 
religion, and organizes the educational system 
of France. He does everything possible for 
the rebuilding of the state. He regulates 
taxes, that the burden may fall equitably on all 
classes. He helps manufactures of every kind. 
He proves himself a masterly road-builder. 
He establishes museums, and orders the con- 
struction of great public buildings. In peace 
he seems to be greater even than he has shown 



254 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

himself in war. He encourages literature, 
art, and music, and makes Paris so beautiful 
that its citizens are justified in their pride. 

He surrounds himself with capable men. 
In no way does he more clearly show his own 
superiority than by letting it be seen that he is 
free from jealousy. He is always ready to 
reward publicly those who help him in any of 
his undertakings. Not all Napoleon's plans 
are carried out during his Consulship, but they 
are begun with such vigor that no one doubts 
that they will be completed. The country is 
the better for his firm hand. Yet in some ways 
we admired him more in his earlier years. His 
ambition now casts a shadow that should warn 
him that the middle way is the best. 

In one way at least Napoleon's ambitions 
do not get the better of him. As he ad- 
vances in power he does not forget old friends. 
They share his prosperity, these schoolmates 
and associates of his earlier years. They are 
given honors that some of them find it hard to 
wear gracefully. 

"Here we are at the Tuileries," he exclaims 
to an old friend, when made Consul for life. 
"We must remain here." 



THE LAST PICTURES 255 

In the short breathing spell made possible 
by the Peace of Amiens, France accomplishes 
more in all directions than the other countries 
of Europe. Yet those whose sight is clearest 
may, perhaps, see a cloud likely to deepen and 
blur the picture. Does it come from England, 
now making great efforts to gather her strength 
for a long contest ? Or does the growing 
ambition of Napoleon mean the overthrow of 
the very things he is working for ? 

Though the gorgeous spectacle of the Im- 
perial Coronation in the great Cathedral has 
seldom been surpassed, we incline to turn 
away from it. It had been better for Napoleon 
to remain First Consul rather than to make 
himself Emperor. His plain gray suit became 
him better than this trailing cloak of purple 
velvet embroidered in gold and trimmed with 
ermine. We recognize the golden bees, and 
the insignia of the Legion of Honor, but the 
diamond collar and the great Pitt diamond 
blazing in the pommel of his sword seem un- 
suited to the young Corsican who once de- 
lighted in simplicity. The laurel wreath that 
he first wears suits him better than the Im- 
perial crown that he takes from the hands of 



256 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

the Pope and places on his own head. But 
the Pope has anointed him, and Napoleon is 
now Emperor of that shadowy Holy Roman 
Empire, for which in the past rivers of blood 
have been shed. 

Is Napoleon really happier now than when 
he roamed, a fearless boy, over the rough hills 
of Corsica ? Is Josephine as contented wearing 
the crown of an Empress as she was wander- 
ing light-hearted in the forests of Martinique ? 
Josephine is indeed fond of jewels and 
beautiful clothes, and nothing could be more 
splendid than her coronation robe of white 
satin and silver and gold, with its ornaments 
of pearls and diamonds. But Josephine has 
a long memory. She often recalls the poverty 
of her childhood, of her early married life. 
When Empress she tells one of the ladies in 
attendance on her that no present ever made 
her happier than a pair of shoes given her for 
Hortense, her little daughter, who otherwise 
would have had to go barefoot part of her 
voyage from Martinique to France. 

Josephine is a sensible woman. She is not 
ashamed of her early poverty. Like Napoleon 
she had suffered during the Revolution and 



THE LAST PICTURES 257 

had even for a time been thrown into prison. 
Like Napoleon she, too, had sometimes not 
known when she should get her next meal. 
She had even had to borrow money to pay her 
rent. She had suffered everything, when the 
execution of her first husband, Alexandre de 
Beauharnais, during the Reign of Terror, had 
left her and her two children destitute. 

All the circumstances of her past life may 
not have flashed before Josephine's mind at 
the moment of the Coronation. Yet it is not 
improbable that wearing the crown and realiz- 
ing the responsibilities of her new position, 
she may have sighed for a day of freedom 
from care, such as she had known in Mar- 
tinique. 

On that December day in 1805 when Na- 
poleon puts on the Imperial crown more than 
three years have passed since England signed 
the short-lived Peace of Amiens. The war 
that is now renew r ed between France and 
England is to continue until Waterloo. As 
Emperor, however, Napoleon seems to be 
master of Europe. All the European courts, 
except England, Russia, and Sweden, acknowl- 
edge his new title. 



258 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

So we turn to a new picture. It is the eve 
of Austerlitz. Napoleon walks among the 
soldiers, who are resting in camp, awaiting the 
struggle. When his men recognize him, they 
surround him, they rush ahead of him, holding 
aloft long poles on which are fastened burning 
wisps of straw. 

"It is the anniversary of the Coronation," 
they shout as they light his way. The next 
day when they measure their strength with 
Russia and Austria, the soldiers of the Empire 
are victorious. Another scene now stands out 
vividly. Alexander of Russia is coming to 
meet Napoleon. At Tilsit on a raft in the 
river Niemen the two Emperors greet each 
other with a kiss. 

"I hate the English as much as you," cries 
the impulsive Alexander. "I will be your 
second in all that you do against them." 

The next day we see the King of Prussia 
arriving half-heartedly at Tilsit. Friedland 
has done its work, and for the time Prussia 
is humbled. 

Brilliant though the panorama of Napoleon's 
life is after Tilsit, we view with wonder rather 
than approval the striking pictures as they 



THE LAST PICTURES 59 

present themselves one by one. We observe 
the wild enthusiasm of the French people for 
their Emperor after Ulm and Austerlitz and 
Hohenlinden. Even the battle of Trafalgar 
- a victory for England does not dampen 
their aftlor. But Napoleon himself grows 
careful, and tries to keep from the army the 
news of his loss on the sea. 

Prussia is humbled, Austria wishes to 
make terms, Napoleon has some successes 
in Spain, and he hopes to injure England. 
Though we may not discover this at first, his 
interference in the affairs of Spain hastens 
the Emperor's downfall. Although he suc- 
ceeds in having his brother Joseph made King 
of Spain, he cannot keep him on the throne. 

His ambition increases. His family try to 
persuade him to divorce Josephine, that he 
may strengthen himself by a second marriage 
with some royal princess. 

We look at the family group of the Bona- 
partes. With Napoleon at the height of his 
power, we count the titles. 

Joseph, at first King of Naples, is King of 
Spain; Louis, King of Holland; Jerome, 
King of Westphalia; Lucien, a Prince of the 



260 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

Empire, later repudiates the title ; Eliza, Grand 
Duchess of Tuscany; Pauline, Princess Bor- 
ghese; and Caroline is Queen of Naples; 
Josephine's daughter, Hortense, is Queen of 
Holland; and Eugene, her son, is a Prince. 
Old Madame Bonaparte, the devoted mother, 
is not sure that the glory of the family will 
last forever. Of the treasures lavished on her 
by Napoleon, she puts aside a portion that may 
be of service when the possible rainy day 
comes. 

Josephine is the idol of the French people. 
But Bonaparte ambition extends even to them. 
In these uncertain days France might be 
stronger if its Emperor were free to marry into 
a Royal family. 

We note Josephine's anxiety as she studies 
Napoleon. But she sees no change in his 
love for her children. Eugene is his adopted 
heir. Hortense is married to Napoleon's 
brother Louis. Josephine hopes that those 
who advise the Royal Alliance may not prevail. 
Her tears are useless, and when Napoleon 
decides she has to yield. 

The first of April, 1810, less than five years 
from the date of the Coronation, Napoleon is 



THE LAST PICTURES 261 

the centre of another brilliant ceremony. 
This is the day of his marriage with Maria 
Louisa, daughter of the Emperor of Austria. 
A year later fickle Paris is in a state of feverish 
excitement over the birth of the King of Rome. 
Napoleon, rejoicing in his little son, seems at 
the height of his power. 

Looking at Napoleon now, we must admit 
that he has become an autocrat. Yet he is 
not a despot in the ordinary sense. Though 
he may like power in itself, for what it brings 
to him, he cares still for the prosperity of 
France. The country needs his strong guid- 
ance. Outside of France he has enemies on all 
sides. While he does not admit it, things are 
against him in Spain; and then, as if losing 
his head, he decides to march into Russia. 
The Emperor of Russia is now his bitter 
enemy. The kiss of Tilsit was soon wiped 
away. 

If we could, we would close our eyes to the 
next terrible scene. Before us marches the 
best of the young manhood of France - 
hundreds of thousands of men to a certain 
death. Here is the greatest army of the 
time, and at Borodino we see "the bloodiest 



262 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

fight of the century." For the French the 
victory is almost worse than a defeat, since 
they are thus beguiled farther into Russia. 
No one can paint adequately the horrors of 
that bitter campaign. Of the hundreds of 
thousands who had crossed the Niemen a few 
months earlier, only twenty thousand frost- 
bitten spectres stagger again over the bridge 
in the middle of December. 

Napoleon's thoughts are gloomy enough as 
he rides desperately back to France, leaving 
his fragment of an army in charge of Murat. 
No one envies him now, with the world against 
him. Soon he hears that Joseph has been 
driven from Spain. Already he feels the 
strength of the coalition formed to overthrow 
him. Does he realize that Austria is no 
longer his friend that Prussia is ready to 
fall upon him? All Germany is waking to 
new life, and to a great extent its energy is the 
result of the teachings of Napoleon himself. 
We see him struggling to hold his own, un- 
willing to admit that he has lost anything. 
There is likely to be discontent in France. 
The flower of French youth has gone with the 
army, and there are hardly men enough to till 



THE LAST PICTURES 263 

the ground. We glance hastily at the passing 
pictures. The victory at Dresden is more 
than balanced by the disasters at Kulm and 
Leipzig. The campaign of 1813 is fatal to 
Napoleon, who still trusts to his star. 

So we pass on to the last scenes of the 
panorama. 

It is a Sunday in January, 1814. Napoleon 
is in Paris, intending in a few days to go to the 
front. He and the Empress are holding a 
reception at the Tuileries, and there is a 
brilliant throng in the great salon. All eyes 
are on the Emperor and Empress as they enter 
the apartment. Napoleon holds by the hand 
a fair-haired boy of three, the little King of 
Rome. The child wears the uniform of the 
National Guard of Paris. Courtiers, crowding 
around the group, bow and smile. But as 
he scans their faces with his keen eye, Na- 
poleon reads who are his enemies, who his 
friends. There are many officers of the 
National Guard present, and it is to them 
perhaps that the Emperor especially addresses 
himself. 

"Gentlemen," he cries, "I am about to set 
out for the army. I intrust to you what I 



864 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

hold dearest in the world my wife and my 
son." 

Although those present do not dream that 
the end of Napoleon's reign is so near, they 
show great emotion. Tears fall and sobs are 
heard on all sides as his appeal reaches their 
hearts. Many of those present at the Tuileries 
this afternoon even those nearest him 
will never see Napoleon again. 

In less than two days the Emperor bids his 
last farewell to Maria Louisa and their little 
son. The Empress is to be Regent during his 
absence. Joseph is appointed Lieutenant of 
France. 

Then we look on the sad picture of Na- 
poleon's last campaign, when he meets his 
match in the dogged Blucher. Before the 
end of February, Napoleon has to admit that 
he is conquered. He accepts the terms made 
by the Allies. They give him the island of 
Elba for a time, with money enough to keep 
up a certain small grandeur. Pensions are 
provided for Maria Louisa and the King of 
Rome, and even for the other Bonapartes. 

It is a curious spectacle Napoleon amus- 
ing himself with Elba, as if it were a big 



THE LAST PICTURES 265 

toy. One day he increases his standing army, 
the next he annexes a neighboring island. 
His mother and some of his family are with 
him, but Maria Louisa has returned to her 
father with the little King of Rome. 

But Napoleon and his friends have been 
making their plans, and we are dazzled, as the 
world was then, by his rapid march across 
France, by the demonstrations of his soldiers 
and the vigor of the short, sharp campaign 
and the greatness of Wellington's victory. Yet 
Quatre Bras and Waterloo are soon over- 
shadowed by the rock of St. Helena. 

Betsy Balcombe, Napoleon's young neigh- 
bor, well knew the story of Napoleon. She 
could see as plainly as we can to-day the 
pictures revealed in the panorama of his life. 
Perhaps she stood too near him, perhaps she 
was too young to draw the lesson that we 
of to-day draw from his meteoric career. 
Perhaps her sympathy for him in all that he 
had to bear at St. Helena blinded her to the 
fact that he was himself to a certain extent to 
blame for his own downfall. He reached 
too far, his ambition was too great. As First 
Consul, depending on the votes of the people, 



266 NAPOLEON'S YOUNG NEIGHBOR 

he might have been stronger than he was as 
Emperor. The good that he did France was 
fairly balanced by the fearful loss of life in 
his long wars. 

Napoleon's one thought was to carry out 
his own plans without counting the cost in 
men. Yet putting aside the question of the 
vast loss of life in his wars and the sorrow that 
resulted, we may see that his career was not 
wholly bad for Europe. 

Although ambition and selfishness may have 
prompted much that he did, he really wished 
to promote the welfare of France. To-day 
that country is farther ahead than would have 
been possible but for Napoleon. Many of 
the institutions that have most advanced her 
originated with the First Emperor. Other 
countries besides France benefited by Na- 
poleon's energy. He showed several of them 
how to realize their ideals of independence. 

It is true that the constitutions he gave to 
various states of Europe as well as to France 
after his downfall were for a time cancelled. 
Still, in the end, his ideas prevailed, and ex- 
cept for Napoleon not only a French Republic 
would have been slower in establishing itself, 



THE LAST PICTURES 267 

but also a free Italy, and even a United 
Germany might have arrived less quickly. 

The sadness of Napoleon's last years modi- 
fied the judgments of many who had been his 
bitter enemies. His personal charm made 
those who knew him forget the general self- 
ishness of his whole career. Yet in weighing 
all that can be said for and against him, it 
would be unfair to have the balance against 
him. That Napoleon whom Betsy Balcombe 
knew at The Briars fun-loving and consid- 
erate of those about him was as truly 
Napoleon as the man before whom many had 
trembled whom his enemies had so criticised 
- to look at him as his young neighbor looked 
at him is to understand a little the secret of 
his influence. 



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A Story for Younger Girls 



IRMA AND NAP 

By HELEN LEAH REED 

Author of " Amy in Acadia," The " Brenda " Books, etc. 
Illustrated by Clara E. Atwood. 12mo. $1.25 



A brightly written story about 
children from eleven to thirteen 
years of age, who live in a suburban 
town, and attend a public grammar 
school. The book is full of incident 
of school and home life. 

The story deals with real life, and 
is told in the simple and natural 
style which characterized Miss 
Reed's popular "Brenda" stories. 
Washington Post. 

There are little people in this 
sweetly written story with whom 
all will feel at once that they have 
been long acquainted, so real do 
they seem, as well as their plans, 
their play, and their school and 
home and everyday life. Boston Courier. 

Her children are real; her style also is natural and 
pleasing. The Outlook, New York. 

Miss Reed's children are perfectly natural and act as 
real girls would under the same circumstances. Nap is a 
lively little dog, who takes an important part in the 
development of the story. Christian Register, Boston. 

A clever story, not a bit preachy, but with much influ- 
ence for right living in evidence throughout. Chicago 
Evening Post. 




LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 

254 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON 




A 000 111 199 e 



